Fowler's Solution

Fowler's solution consists of one percent potassium arsenite in water and was first described and published as a potential treatment for malaria and syphilis in the late 1700s, and was once also prescribed as a tonic. Thomas Fowler of Stafford, England proposed the solution in 1786 as a substitute for a patent medicine called tasteless ague drop, and it was known at the time as Liquor Arsenicalis. From 1865 Fowler's solution was used as a leukemia treatment, but from 1905 inorganic arsenicals like it saw diminished use as attention turned to organic arsenicals such as Atoxyl. Because inorganic arsenic compounds are notably toxic and carcinogenic, with side effects including cirrhosis of the liver, idiopathic portal hypertension, urinary bladder cancer and skin cancers, Fowler's solution fell from use, though in 2001 the United States Food and Drug Administration approved a drug of arsenic trioxide to treat acute promyelocytic leukemia, renewing interest in arsenic chemistry.