_Therapeutics._--Externally arsenious acid has been much used by quack
doctors to destroy morbid growths, &c., a paste or solution being
applied, strong enough to kill the mass of tissue and make it slough out
quickly. But many accidents have resulted from the arsenic being
absorbed, and the patient thereby poisoned. Internally it is useful in
certain forms of dyspepsia, but as some patients are quite unable to
tolerate the drug, it must always be administered in very small doses at
first, the quantity being slowly increased as tolerance is shown.
Children as a rule bear it better than adults. It should never be given
on an empty stomach, but always after a full meal. Certain cases of
anaemia which do not yield to iron are often much improved by arsenic,
though in other apparently similar ones it appears to be valueless. It
is the routine treatment for pernicious anaemia and Hodgkin's disease,
though here again the drug may be of no avail. For the neuralgia and
anaemia following malaria, for rheumatoid arthritis, for chorea and also
asthma and hay fever, it is constantly prescribed with excellent
results. Certain skin diseases, as psoriasis, pemphigus and occasionally
chronic eczema, are much benefited by its use, though occasionally a too
prolonged course will produce the very lesion for which under other
circumstances it is a cure. A recent method of using the drug is in the
form of sodium cacodylate by subcutaneous injection, and this
preparation is said to be free from the cumulative effects sometimes
arising after the prolonged use of the other forms. Other organic
derivatives employed are sodium metharsenite and sodium anilarsenate or
atoxyl; hypodermic injections of the latter have been used in the
treatment of sleeping sickness. Occasionally, as among the Styrians,
individuals acquire the habit of arsenic-eating, which is said to
increase their weight, strength and appetite, and clears their
complexion. The probable explanation is that an antitoxin is developed
within them.
_Toxicology and Forensic Medicine._--The commonest source of arsenical
poisoning is the arsenious acid or white arsenic, which in one form is
white and opaque, like flour, for which it has been mistaken with fatal
results. Also, as it has little taste and no colour it is easily mixed
with food for homicidal purposes. When combined with potash or soda it
is used to saturate flypapers, and strong solutions can be obtained by
soaking these in water; this fact has also been used with criminal
intent. Copper arsenite (or Scheele's green) used to be much employed as
a pigment for wall-papers and fabrics, and toxic effects have resulted
from their use. Metallic arsenic is probably not poisonous, but as it
usually becomes oxidized in the alimentary canal, the usual symptoms of
arsenical poisoning follow its use.
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