Arsenic Sublimate or Arsenolite

The main component of arsenolite is arsenic trioxide, also called arsenious anhydride, a white octahedral crystal. Arsenic trioxide sublimates under high heat, so refining is easy; the sublimate is commonly called arsenic (white arsenic).

Arsenic trioxide has the basic pharmacology and toxicology of arsenic preparations. Arsenic has a protoplasmic toxic action, and can paralyze capillaries, inhibit sulfhydryl-containing enzyme activity, and cause hepatic fatty degeneration, centrilobular necrosis of the liver, congestion of heart, liver, kidney, and intestine, epithelial cell necrosis, and capillary dilation. The hemorrhoid-shrinking powder contains white arsenic; if applied daily to rabbit ears it causes dry necrosis and even sloughing; experiments show products without arsenic trioxide have no such effect.

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