liver of antimony

From a supposed resemblance to the color of animals' livers.

liver of antimony (uncountable)

1. (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.

• “liver, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009.