Domestic Encyclopædia (1802)/Turbith-Mineral

TURBITH-MINERAL, or Yellow-vitriolated Quicksilver, a medicinal precipitate obtained by cautiously mixing eight parts of vitriolic acid with four of purified mercury; and distilling the whole to dryness, in a retort placed in a sand-furnace. The white calx, on being reduced to powder, and thrown into warm distilled water, assumes a yellow colour; and becomes tasteless after repeated ablutions.

Turbith-mineral is a powerful emetic, and has been given with frequent success, in doses of from 1 1/2 to 6 or 8 grains, to robust persons, who were afflicted with leprous diseases, and glandular obstructions, that had resisted the power of other medicines. It has also been recommended, in doses amounting from six grains to a scruple every day, in cases of hydrophobia; and some instances have occurred, in which it not only prevented madness in dogs that had been bitten, but also effected a cure, after the disease had actually taken place.—Lastly, the water, in which this mineral is washed, has been used externally for lotions, in the itch and other cutaneous affections; but such practice ought never to be adopted without proper advice; as it may be attended with danger.