Cacodylate of Soda. (CH3)2AsONa. Trituration. Solution.
Clinical
Phthisis.
Characteristics
*Cacodyl (which signifies evil-smelling) is, like Cyanogen, a compound radicle, having the formula As (CH3)2. It was first obtained by Bunsenis 1873 as discacodyl, As (CH3)4. It is a clear liquid refracting light strongly, heavier than water, of insupportably offensive smell, its vapor being highly poisonous. *Cacodylic acid, (CH3)2 AsOOH, is a crystalline arsenic compound, soluble in water, odourless, and though containing 54.4 per cent. of metallic arsenic, not an active poison. This acid (and more particularly its sodium salt) has been used on the recommendation of Armand Gautier, Professor of Chemistry at the Faculty of Medicine of Paris, as a “cure” for consumption, the non-poisonous nature of this salt enables the patients to take it in large doses. But it is not always harmless. Murrell (*Medorrhinum *Press, December 19, 1900) gave it in pill of one grain three times a day to a young woman, 21. Poisoning symptoms set in suddenly after the eleventh dose: constant vomiting, tongue like a piece of raw beef, conjunctive inflamed, eyelids oedematous, breath of gangrenous odour, peripheral neuritis, wrist-drop, paralysis of left leg. The odour was noticed on second day, the other symptoms came suddenly. These are good indications for homoeopaths.
