Home > Encyclopedia of Alternative Medicine > Arsenicum Album

Description

Arsenicum album is a homeopathic remedy derived from the metallic element arsenic. Traces of arsenic are found in vegetables and animals. In its crude form, arsenic is poisonous. Gradual accumulations may result in digestive disturbances, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, dehydration, coma, shock, convulsions, paralysis, and death.

Common names for arsenicum album include arsenic trioxide, white arsenic, white oxide of metallic arsenic, and arsenius acid. Arsenic is indestructible, even by fire, and remains in bone ash after cremation. It has been used to create pigmentation for wallpaper, carpet, and paints. Arsenic has also been used to produce medicines and pesticides.

Arsenic was used as a remedy for certain types of cattle disease as far back as the eighth century. In the seventeenth century, arsenic was applied topically to treat malignant ulcers and skin diseases in humans. Taken internally, it...