Antimony in a corpse persists indefinitely, and unless a body was cremated, which in former times it rarely was, a murderer using antimony could never be certain that he or she would not one day be brought to account. However, that was a small risk to set aside the potential benefits, which could be large. And there were other benefits in choosing antimony as the murder weapon, not least that it was itself widely used in medical treatment. Poisoners choosing antimony invariably selected tartar emetic (antimony potassium tartrate), and indeed its faint yellow crystals had two advantages. Firstly, they are very soluble in water and, while the solution has a faint metallic taste, this is easily masked by the presence of other flavours. Secondly, the compound was readily available, and all pharmacists stocked it and rarely queried its sale because it was widely used to treat sick animals. Moreover, tartar emetic was cheap; an ounce cost only 2d. in 1897 (around 50p or $1 today). Pharmacists ordered it by the pound, which gives some indication of the demand for it. In small doses of about 5 mg, antimony potassium tartrate acts as a diaphoretic, in other words it promotes sweating and will thereby lower the body’s temperature. In larger doses of around 50 mg it acts as an emetic. Vomiting begins within 15 minutes and most of the stomach contents are expelled. Thus the poison acts as its own antidote to a certain extent: witness the man who recovered from a dose of around 25 grams (25 000 mg), corresponding to two teaspoonfuls of the crystals, which were taken in mistake for sodium bicarbonate. On the other hand, some have died after swallowing as little as 120 mg, although such sensitivity to the poison is extremely rare and it would normally require a dose of twice this amount to cause death, assuming it was retained by the body long enough for it to be absorbed. Some individuals are particularly sensitive to antimony, as the ‘Balham Mystery’ will show, and this sensitivity may well explain the puzzling death of Mozart.
Reduced cardiovascular alterations of tartar emetic administered in long-circulating liposomes in rats
