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In environmental terms, the 19th century was the age of arsenic. The uses of this element are almost too numerous to mention—embalming, cosmetics, glass and gunshot manufacture, pyrotechnics, taxidermy, weed and rodent control, and particularly in medicine, both by prescription and self-medication. Arsenic was characterized as a ‘‘therapeutic mule’’. For centuries, it was used for murder being ...

Despite its undoubted toxicity, arsenic is a much-used element, finding applications in agriculture, industry, and medicine. Arsenic as a poison has a prominent role in plays and novels as well as in real life. In medicine, arsenic was so widely used in the 19th century as a cure-all that it has been termed a “therapeutic mule.” Some arsenic compounds are still used in the treatment of parasiti...

Yellow orpiment (As2S3) and red–orange realgar (As4S4) photo-degrade and the nineteenth-century pigment emerald green (Cu(C2H3O2)2·3Cu(AsO2)2) degrades into arsenic oxides. Because of their solubility in water, arsenic oxides readily migrate and are found throughout the multi-layered paint system. The widespread arsenic migration has consequences for conservation, and this paper provides better...

Background: Niu Huang Jie Du Pian (NHJDP) is a widely used realgar-containing Chinese medicine remedy. Most brands are composed of eight ingredients: Niuhuang (Calculus Bovis), Xionghuang (realgar), gypsum (calcium sulphate), Dahuang (Radix et Rhizoma Rhei), Huangqin (Radix Scutellariae), Jugeng (Platycodon grandiflorum), Bingpian (borneol), and Gancao (Radix Glycyrrhizae uralensis, licorice ro...

Arsenic is a natural substance that has been used medicinally for over 2,400 years. In the 19th century, it was the mainstay of the materia medica. A solution of potassium arsenite (Fowler's solution) was used for a variety of systemic illnesses from the 18th until the 20th century. This multipurpose solution was also primary therapy for the treatment of chronic myelogenous leukemia until repla...