An antimony pill is a
pill
Pill or The Pill may refer to:
Drugs
* Pill (pharmacy), referring to anything small for a specific dose of medicine
* "The Pill", a general nickname for the combined oral contraceptive pill
Film and television
* ''The Pill'' (film), a 2011 fil ...
made from metallic
antimony
Antimony is a chemical element with the symbol Sb (from la, stibium) and atomic number 51. A lustrous gray metalloid, it is found in nature mainly as the sulfide mineral stibnite (Sb2S3). Antimony compounds have been known since ancient t ...
. It was a popular remedy in the nineteenth century, and it was used to purge and revitalise the bowels. In use, it is swallowed and allowed to pass through the body, after which it is customarily recovered for reuse, giving rise to the name everlasting pill. The
antimonial cup
An antimonial cup was a small half-pint mug or cup cast in antimony popular in Europe during the 17th and 18th centuries. They were also known under the names "pocula emetica," "calices vomitorii," or "emetic cups", as wine that was kept in on ...
yielded the same effect.
According to the ''Medico-Pharmaceutical Critic and Guide'' (1907), edited by
William J. Robinson:
See also
*
Antimonial
Antimonials, in pre-modern medicine, were remedies principally containing antimony, used chiefly for emetic purposes. They might also have qualified for cathartic, diaphoretic, or simply alternative uses. Such treatments were considered unparall ...
*
Antimonial cup
An antimonial cup was a small half-pint mug or cup cast in antimony popular in Europe during the 17th and 18th centuries. They were also known under the names "pocula emetica," "calices vomitorii," or "emetic cups", as wine that was kept in on ...
References
External links
*
*
{{Use British English, date=October 2010
Abandoned drugs
Antimony