Orpiment and realgar
Auripigmentum, sandaraca
- Known today as
- Yellow and red arsenic sulfides.
- Kind
- Mineral, in 1 older authority
- Constituents
- arsenic trisulfide, arsenic sulfide
- Poisoning
- Mercury, arsenic, lead, and antimony
- Earliest authority here
- Pliny (AD 23/24–79)
- In other databases
- Wikidata search
Deadly. Historical description only.
Orpiment and realgar: what was it used for?
Caustics for ulcers and depilatories; the yellow and red pigments of painters.
Orpiment and realgar: what does modern science say?
Arsenic compounds, poisonous by mouth and in the dust.
Orpiment and realgar: is it poisonous?
Yes, and it can kill. Its poisoning is mercury, arsenic, lead, and antimony: Minutes to hours for a large dose; months or years for the slow poisoning of the trades. Historical description, not medical advice; in a poisoning, call a poison centre.
Pharmacognosy & Toxicology
- Constituents
- arsenic trisulfideorpiment
- arsenic sulfiderealgar
- Mechanism
- The sulfides are poorly soluble, so less poisonous than white arsenic by mouth; roasting gives the oxide.
- Toxic dose
- Grams, by mouth; the fumes are the greater hazard.
- Syndrome
- Mercury, arsenic, lead, and antimony
- Standing
- Realgar remains in some Chinese preparations, against advice.
- Liu, J., et al. (2008). Experimental Biology and Medicine 233. Book, not indexed
Constituent names open the compound’s record at PubChem, and “ChEMBL” beside a name opens its record at ChEMBL, the European Bioinformatics Institute’s database of bioactive molecules. Where a mechanism line was checked against ChEMBL (ChEMBL 37, read 1 October 2026), the check is shown with the measured value and its source paper, or says plainly that nothing has been measured. Doses are as the references give them, for description only; this is not medical advice. Each source carries the result of its check against Crossref, PubMed, or the authority’s page: see Verification.
Orpiment and realgar: what did the older authorities say?
- Pliny
- Tells that Caligula, greedy for gold, had orpiment smelted to extract it, and got almost none.
Sources
- Pliny, Natural History XXXIII. Primary text
Verification
- Checked
- October 1, 2026
- Passes
- Every sentence read against its sources, in the fifty-entry sample
- The Standing line checked against the authority it names (EMA, WHO, FDA, CITES, Commission E)
- Every dated or regulatory claim checked by category across the database
- Sources
- 2 cited: 1 primary text, 1 book, not indexed.
- Corrections
- None were needed.
What was checked, how, and what was found is set out on the Verification page. A checked source is one whose record was found; it does not make the entry medical advice.
Cite This Entry
Version 1 · first published September 25, 2026
- Chicago
“Orpiment and realgar.” In Materia Medica, edited by B. C. P. Statema. Version 1. The Thinking Press, 2026–. Last modified September 25, 2026. https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/orpiment-and-realgar.
- MLA
“Orpiment and realgar.” Materia Medica, edited by B. C. P. Statema, version 1, The Thinking Press, 25 Sept. 2026, thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/orpiment-and-realgar. Accessed 8 Oct. 2026.
- APA
Orpiment and realgar. (2026, September 25). In B. C. P. Statema (Ed.), Materia medica (Version 1). The Thinking Press. Retrieved October 8, 2026, from https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/orpiment-and-realgar
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See Also
Poisoned alike: mercury, arsenic, lead, and antimony
Passarino’s white powder · Litharge · Quicksilver · James’s powder · Verdigris · Iron and steel · Vitriol · Cinnabar · the syndrome, with all of them →
Also in Pliny the Elder
Oxymel, and oxymel of squill in Pliny the Elder · Orache in Pliny the Elder · Palm of Christ in Pliny the Elder · Olive oil and holy water in Pliny the Elder · everything Pliny the Elder names →
Drawing on the same sources: Pliny, Liu
Nearby in the alphabet
Orris (The dried root of Iris germanica ‘Florentina’ and I) · Oregano and squinanth (Origanum vulgare) · Ox eye (yellow ox-eye) · Opopanax (a Mediterranean plant of the carrot family) · Oyster mushroom (A shell-shaped mushroom of dead hardwood) · Opium poppy (Papaver somniferum)
Historical description, not medical advice.