Resumen de Arsenic: Not So Evil After All?

Annette Lykknes, Lise Kvittingen

• This article presents parts of the history of the element arsenic in order to illustrate processes behind development of knowledge in chemistry. The particular aspects presented here are the use of arsenic as a stimulant by Styrian peasants, in Fowler's solution, in drugs of the 19th century (e.g., salvarsan), and in current medical treatment, all of which challenge the myth of this element as exclusively poisonous.