liver of antimony
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English
Etymology
From a supposed resemblance to the color of animals' livers.
Noun
liver of antimony (uncountable)
- (alchemy, obsolete chemistry) Synonym of antimony sulfide.
- 1771, Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1st ed., volume II, page 183:
- CHEWING-BALLS, a kind of balls made of aſafœtida, liver of antimony, bay-wood, juniper-wood, and pellitory of Spain; which being dried in the ſun, and wrapped in a linen-cloth, are tied to the bit of the bridle for the horſe to chew: they create an appetite; and it is ſaid, that balls of Venice treacle may be uſed in the ſame manner with good ſucceſs.
- 1920 May 15, Lancet, No. 1047, p. 1:
- The crocus metallorum, or liver of antimony, was a violent cathartic and emetic.
- 2000, Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, number 90, page 31:
- The Lexicon Technicum... refers to ‘Crocus Metallorum’ or Liver of Antimony made by firing equal parts of powder of antimony and saltpetre.
References
- “liver, n.”, in OED Online
, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 2009.
