liver of antimony en · NOUN
Etymology
From a supposed resemblance to the color of animals' livers.
Meanings
-
(obsolete, uncountable) Synonym of antimony sulfide.
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.
1771, Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1st ed., volume II, page 183:The Lexicon Technicum... refers to ‘Crocus Metallorum’ or Liver of Antimony made by firing equal parts of powder of antimony and saltpetre.
2000, Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, number 90, page 31:The crocus metallorum, or liver of antimony, was a violent cathartic and emetic.
1920 May 15, Lancet, No. 1047, p. 1