Chininum arsenicosum
Made from the combination of quinine and arsenic — the two greatest drugs of the fever era joined in one salt, and the classical remedy of the malarial cachexia.
The whole picture, in one breath
Think of the fever that never quite left: periodic fevers with the enlarged spleen and the dropsical swelling, the sallow, cachectic face of the chronic malaria, the weakness that outlasts every paroxysm — the books' great anti-periodic of the cachectic state. The malarial cachexia: that is Chininum arsenicosum.
The substance, in plain words
Chininum arsenicosum joins the two greatest drugs of the fever era in one salt — quinine, the bark's specific, and arsenic, the tonic of the chronic fevers, both genuine, both working. The combination was itself a real drug of the old dispensary; the proving gave the cachectic portrait.
The traditional picture Classical sources
The inner state
- Anxiety and despondency. The dread of the returning paroxysm, the gloom of the chronic state.
- Irritability. Cross, worse at night and in the intervals.
- Dullness. Heavy mind with the cachectic exhaustion.
The body
- Periodic fevers with cachexia. The keynote: the returning paroxysms with the wasting that follows — the chronic malaria of the books.
- Enlarged spleen and dropsy. The swollen spleen and the dropsical tendency of the chronic state.
- Sallow, bloated face. The books describe the sallow, puffy face of the chronic fever patient.
- Weakness out of proportion. The exhaustion that outlasts every attack.
- Worse cold damp and the paroxysm's hour. Wet weather and the fixed hour own the complaint.
- Better for rest and warmth. Rest and warmth ease the intervals.
Modalities (worse and better factors)
| Worse from ⬇ | Better from ⬇ |
|---|---|
| cold damp weather; the paroxysm's hour; night; exertion. | rest; warmth; quiet. |
Where it acts (organ affinities)
Fever mechanism and periodicity, spleen, fluid balance, general vitality.
Where the classical picture comes from
The two-drug combination's proving gave the cachectic portrait; Chininum arsenicosum became the classical remedy of the chronic malarial state — the fever era's two greatest drugs joined in one salt, serving the wasting they could not prevent.
The substance in real medicine Pharmacology
What this section is: the pharmacology and toxicology of the source substance. It is not clinical evidence that a homeopathic preparation of it treats any condition. What controlled trials do and do not show is set out on the Evidence page.
Both halves of this salt are genuine giants: quinine founded chemotherapy — the first specific drug — and arsenic, at controlled dose, is a modern leukaemia drug (ATO, arsenic trioxide, cures acute promyelocytic leukaemia, as its sister page on Arsenicum album records). The malaria it portrayed is now tested by smear and cured by modern antimalarials; the combination's era is the history of the fevers.
Look-alikes (how the classical authors told it apart)
| Remedy | Looks similar because… | Tells it apart because… |
|---|---|---|
| China officinalis | The bark remedies | China is the debility after the fevers; Chininum ars is the cachectic periodicity with the spleen. |
| Cedron | Clockwork fevers | Cedron's fevers keep perfect time without the wasting; Chininum ars brings the cachexia. |
| Chininum sulphuricum | The quinine pair | Chin sulph is the ringing ears; Chininum ars the spleen and the dropsy. |
| Arsenicum iodatum | Arsenic family | Ars-iod is the hot glands; Chininum ars the periodic cachexia of the combined salt. |