Antimony's Toxic Legacy

When I made my last post I said that I planned to talk about the metal antimony’s toxic legacy. I researched the topic and found nothing concerning the symptoms of antimony poisoning save that antimony compounds attack certain tissues in the body. I have read that consuming large enough doses of antimony or its compounds is lethal. In fact, antimony’s very name is said to come from a story in which a monk named Valentinus added stibnite to the other monks’ food in an attempt to help them gain weight. Unfortunately the stibnite did not have its desired effect and the monks died. After that it was called anti-monachium which means “against monks.”
So where does this leave our shiny, gray mineral stibnite? Well if you were to eat a large enough quantity of stibnite you would die, but handling the mineral isn’t the same as consuming it. I have always read that you should wash your hands carefully after handling stibnite. Don’t let young children touch it--keep it out of their reach. I keep mine in a plastic “perky box” to minimize contact with it.
Stibnite is a beautiful mineral, one that I am happy to include in my collection. It should not be feared, but rather respected. Follow the safety rules that I have mentioned above and use common sense when collecting stibnite.