Complete Record - Heirs of Hippocrates No. 821

JOHN HUXHAM (1692-1768) Medical and chemical observations upon antimony. John Hinton 1756 78 pp. 20 cm.

For more information on this author or work, see number: 819

The successful introduction of antimony as a therapeutic agent, chiefly as an emetic and purgative, is credited to Paracelsus. Its use was prohibited by royal decree in 1566 when a number of French physicians were convinced that it was a dangerous poison. Antimony came into use again in 1666 when Louis XIV rescinded the decree after being cured of an illness with emetic tartar which contained antimony. In this treatise on antimony, for which he won the Copley medal in 1755 from the Royal Society, Huxham decrees that "it is without all Doubt a most excellent Mineral, when duly prepared, and judiciously administered" (p. 6). He gives directions for the preparation and use of antimony and briefly discusses its medical uses. The sweating, vomiting, and catharsis brought on by this powerful drug were believed to have beneficial effects on a variety of diseases, but Huxham cautioned that "whoever would give Antimonial Medicines with Safety and Success . . . should know what different combinations, Preparations, and Doses of them effect; otherwise it may prove a Poison, instead of a Remedy" (p. 6).

Cited references: Wellcome III, p. 323

Gift of John Martin, M.D.