Antimony

Statema, B. C. P.

Mineral

Antimony

Antimonio

Known today as: The metallic element and its compounds.
Kind: Mineral, in 3 older authorities
Constituents: antimony potassium tartrate, antimony trisulfide
Poisoning: Mercury, arsenic, lead, and antimony
Earliest authority here: Antiquity
In other databases: Wikidata search
In the Canale glossary: On the Manner of Discerning and Healing the Bewitched, Appendix A: Part Three, Chapter 5: Vomitory Medicines

Caution. Hazardous in some form or dose; see the modern assessment below.

Antimony: what did Canale use it for?

Well prepared, safer than hellebore, four to eight grains in wine or conserve (chs. 2, 5).

Antimony: what does modern science say?

A strong emetic, and toxic. Its use was the great controversy of Paracelsian medicine: banned by the Paris Faculty in 1566, it was made lawful again by the Parlement of Paris in 1666. Its salt tartar emetic long served as an emetic and expectorant, and antimony compounds were used against parasitic disease into the 1970s.

Antimony: is it poisonous?

Yes, in some form or dose. Its poisoning is mercury, arsenic, lead, and antimony: Minutes to hours for a large dose; months or years for the slow poisoning of the trades. Historical description, not medical advice; in a poisoning, call a poison centre.

Pharmacognosy & Toxicology

Constituents

antimony potassium tartratetartar emetic
antimony trisulfidestibnite, the ore

Mechanism

Antimony binds thiols as arsenic does, and tartar emetic irritates the stomach to vomiting.

Toxic dose

About 100 mg of tartar emetic has killed; the “everlasting pill” of metallic antimony was swallowed, recovered, and reused.

Syndrome

Mercury, arsenic, lead, and antimony

Standing

Antimonials remain in use against leishmaniasis in some countries; none in the West.

Emsley, J. (2005). The Elements of Murder. Verified against its record · doi:10.1093/oso/9780192805997.001.0001

The abstract of each source, beneath its citation. For Club members. About the Club or sign in.

Constituent names open the compound’s record at PubChem, and “ChEMBL” beside a name opens its record at ChEMBL, the European Bioinformatics Institute’s database of bioactive molecules. Where a mechanism line was checked against ChEMBL (ChEMBL 37, read 1 October 2026), the check is shown with the measured value and its source paper, or says plainly that nothing has been measured. Doses are as the references give them, for description only; this is not medical advice. Each source carries the result of its check against Crossref, PubMed, or the authority’s page: see Verification.

Antimony: what lore surrounds it?

Kohl, of which powdered antimony (stibium) was a chief ingredient, was worn in ancient Egypt not only as adornment but as a believed protection for the eyes against the glare of the sun and against infection, and was applied to infants as well as adults. Its association with Cleopatra in particular belongs to modern popular retelling rather than to documented practice.

Antimony: what did the older authorities say?

Antiquity: As stibium, powdered stibnite was the kohl that darkened eyes from Egypt to Rome.
Basil Valentine: The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony (1604) made it the emblem of the new chemical medicine.
Paris: The Parlement banned it as a medicine in 1566 at the Faculty’s urging, and the ban was lifted a century later, after it was credited with curing the young Louis XIV.

Sources

[38] Encyclopaedia Britannica, online edition, britannica.com. Articles: Ambergris; Aristolochiaceae; Asafetida; Azurite; Castor-oil plant; Civet; Dragon’s blood; Garden cress; Jet; Kermes; Laudanum; Lye; Monemvasía; Musk; Precious coral; Saltpetre; Sulfur dioxide; Tartar emetic; Tropaeolum. Book, seen in reviews
[55] Guerriaud, M. (2026). L’antimoine : un remède anticlérical ? VIDAL, 17 February 2026. vidal.fr. Book, not indexed
[63] Hussey, K. (2018). “May God protect us from such drugs and physicians!”: a 17th century antimony cup. Royal College of Physicians Museum blog, 27 July 2018. Book, not indexed
[117] Victoria and Albert Museum. Antimonial cup with case and box, museum no. 1370A to D-1900. collections.vam.ac.uk. Book, not indexed

Verification

Checked

October 1, 2026

Passes

Every sentence read against its sources, in the pass over the remaining 343 entries
The Standing line checked against the authority it names (EMA, WHO, FDA, CITES, Commission E)
Every dated or regulatory claim checked by category across the database

Sources

5 cited: 1 verified against its record, 1 book, seen in reviews, 3 book, not indexed. 1 with the abstract on file.

Corrections

None were needed.

What was checked, how, and what was found is set out on the Verification page. A checked source is one whose record was found; it does not make the entry medical advice.

Cite This Entry

Version 1 · first published September 25, 2026

Chicago: “Antimony.” In Materia Medica, edited by B. C. P. Statema. Version 1. The Thinking Press, 2026–. Last modified September 25, 2026. https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/antimony.
MLA: “Antimony.” Materia Medica, edited by B. C. P. Statema, version 1, The Thinking Press, 25 Sept. 2026, thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/antimony. Accessed 8 Oct. 2026.
APA: Antimony. (2026, September 25). In B. C. P. Statema (Ed.), Materia medica (Version 1). The Thinking Press. Retrieved October 8, 2026, from https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/antimony

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