![]() ![]() Its cosmic abundance is estimated as about one atom to every five million atoms of silicon. Occurrence and distributionĪntimony is about one-fifth as abundant as arsenic, contributing on the average about one gram to every ton of Earth’s crust. The name antimony comes from the medieval Latin antimonium, whose origin is uncertain. In the same century, a book summarizing available knowledge of antimony and its compounds was published that had purportedly been written by a Basil Valentine, allegedly a Benedictine monk of the 15th century, whose name appears on chemical writings over a span of two centuries. In 1615 Andreas Libavius, a German physician, described the preparation of metallic antimony by the direct reduction of the sulfide with iron, and a chemistry textbook published in 1675 by Nicolas Lémery also describes methods of preparation of the element. Records of the 15th century show the use of the substance in alloys for type, bells, and mirrors. Early writings of Dioscorides, dating from about the same time, mention metallic antimony. Pliny the Elder, during the 1st century ce, wrote of seven different medicinal remedies using what he called stimi or stibi (stibium), which likely refers to antimony sulfide. Stibnite was used in ancient Egypt as eye makeup. Fragments of a Chaldean vase made of antimony have been estimated to date to about 4000 bce. The ancients were familiar with antimony both as a metal and in its sulfide form.
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