What is Realgar?

In daily life, I believe most people are very unfamiliar with realgar. The most common things you may hear are eating rice dumplings, dragon boat racing, and drinking realgar wine during the Dragon Boat Festival. The so-called realgar wine is made by grinding realgar into powder and soaking it in white wine and yellow wine. It is usually consumed during the Dragon Boat Festival. The ancients believed that realgar has the effects of warding off evil spirits and repelling insects. In addition to this, what other functions does realgar have in our daily life? I believe many people don’t know about it.

In addition to the effects of warding off evil spirits and repelling insects when soaked in wine, realgar also has great medicinal value. But how can realgar play its own role? This requires a full understanding of realgar. Only in this way can the medicinal value of realgar be truly exerted and utilized. Let's take a look at what realgar is below.

1. Content distribution

Realgar is mainly distributed in Guizhou, Hunan, Hubei, Gansu, Yunnan, Sichuan, Anhui, Shaanxi and Guangxi. It is mainly produced in Shimen, Cili, Jinshi, Changde, Liuyang, Shaoyang and Dongkou in Hunan; Sinan, Tongren, Yinjiang, Yanhe, Huishui, Sandu, Fenglan, Yuyong and Langdai in Guizhou; Yichang, Changyang, Wufeng and Hefeng in Hubei; Wudu, Dangchang, Maqu, Zhouqu, Huixian, Linxia and Dunhuang in Gansu. Most of them are concentrated in Tianjin and Wuhan.

2 Physical and chemical properties

Realgar is one of the arsenic sulfide minerals, containing about 70.1% As. It is a monoclinic crystal system, and single crystals are small columnar or needle-shaped, but they are rare; they are usually dense granular or earthy blocks. It is orange-red, and the streak is light orange-red. Hardness 1.5~2, density 3.5~3.6g/cm3. Brittle, low melting point. When heated with charcoal fire, white smoke of arsenic trioxide with a garlic smell will be emitted. When exposed to sunlight, it will turn into yellow realgar (As2S3) and arsenic. Realgar is insoluble in water and hydrochloric acid, but soluble in nitric acid, and the solution is yellow. Realgar is mainly produced in low-temperature hydrothermal deposits, and often coexists with orpiment, stibnite and cinnabar; realgar produced in hot spring sediments and sulfur volcanic fumarole sediments often coexists with orpiment. The orange-red, transparent to translucent realgar crystals appear gorgeous and rich. The columnar crystals vary in length and thickness, grow in multiple directions, and have a peculiar shape. When set against the backdrop of white calcite and other symbiotic minerals, they are colorful and constitute an overall natural beauty. Be careful to protect realgar crystals from weathering.

3 Identification characteristics

Similar to cinnabar, but realgar is orange-red with light orange-red streaks; while cinnabar is red with bright red streaks, and its density is greater than realgar. Realgar is burned with a blowpipe flame to produce white smoke and a garlicky smell.

4. Realgar medicinal use

(1) It has anti-tumor effects, can inhibit the growth of transplanted mouse sarcoma S-180, and has a corrosive effect on cells.

(2) After absorption, it has antispasmodic and analgesic effects on nerves; it has insecticidal effects both inside and outside the body. The water extract has different degrees of inhibitory effects on Staphylococcus aureus, human tuberculosis bacteria, Proteus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and various skin fungi.

(3) After intestinal absorption, it can cause vomiting, diarrhea, dizziness and even convulsions. Chronic poisoning can damage the physiological functions of the liver and kidneys.

Realgar is poisonous. In vitro tests show that it has inhibitory effects on common pathogenic skin fungi such as common pyogenic cocci, intestinal pathogens, human and bovine tuberculosis bacteria, Clostridium difficile and other common pathogenic skin fungi.

The above points are a brief introduction to realgar. I believe that through the above points, everyone has a preliminary understanding of what realgar is. Although drinking a small amount of realgar wine can detoxify and kill insects, you must control the amount of drinking, otherwise drinking too much may cause poisoning. In daily life, I believe most people are very unfamiliar with realgar. The most heard term is probably realgar wine. Realgar wine is made by grinding realgar into powder and soaking it in white wine and yellow wine. It is usually consumed during the Dragon Boat Festival. The ancients believed that realgar has the effects of warding off evil spirits and repelling insects.

In addition, realgar has good medicinal value, but how can realgar play its own role? This requires a full understanding of realgar. Only in this way can the use value of realgar be truly exerted and utilized. Let's take a look at what realgar is below.

1. Content distribution

Realgar is mainly distributed in Guizhou, Hunan, Hubei, Gansu, Yunnan, Sichuan, Anhui, Shaanxi and Guangxi. It is mainly produced in Shimen, Cili, Jinshi, Changde, Liuyang, Shaoyang and Dongkou in Hunan; Sinan, Tongren, Yinjiang, Yanhe, Huishui, Sandu, Fenglan, Yuyong and Langdai in Guizhou; Yichang, Changyang, Wufeng and Hefeng in Hubei; Wudu, Dangchang, Maqu, Zhouqu, Huixian, Linxia and Dunhuang in Gansu. Most of them are concentrated in Tianjin and Wuhan.

2 Physical and chemical properties

Realgar is one of the arsenic sulfide minerals, containing about 70.1% As. It is a monoclinic crystal system, and single crystals are small columnar or needle-shaped, but they are rare; they are usually dense granular or earthy blocks. It is orange-red, and the streak is light orange-red. Hardness 1.5~2, density 3.5~3.6g/cm3. Brittle, low melting point. When heated with charcoal fire, white smoke of arsenic trioxide with a garlic smell will be emitted. When exposed to sunlight, it will turn into yellow realgar (As2S3) and arsenic. Realgar is insoluble in water and hydrochloric acid, but soluble in nitric acid, and the solution is yellow. Realgar is mainly produced in low-temperature hydrothermal deposits, and often coexists with orpiment, stibnite and cinnabar; realgar produced in hot spring sediments and sulfur volcanic fumarole sediments often coexists with orpiment. The orange-red, transparent to translucent realgar crystals appear gorgeous and rich. The columnar crystals vary in length and thickness, grow in multiple directions, and have a peculiar shape. When set against the backdrop of white calcite and other symbiotic minerals, they are colorful and constitute an overall natural beauty. Be careful to protect realgar crystals from weathering.

3 Identification characteristics

Similar to cinnabar, but realgar is orange-red with light orange-red streaks; while cinnabar is red with bright red streaks, and its density is greater than realgar. Realgar is burned with a blowpipe flame to produce white smoke and a garlicky smell.

4. Realgar medicinal use

(1) It has anti-tumor effects, can inhibit the growth of transplanted mouse sarcoma S-180, and has a corrosive effect on cells.

(2) After absorption, it has antispasmodic and analgesic effects on nerves; it has insecticidal effects both inside and outside the body. The water extract has different degrees of inhibitory effects on Staphylococcus aureus, human tuberculosis bacteria, Proteus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and various skin fungi.

(3) After intestinal absorption, it can cause vomiting, diarrhea, dizziness and even convulsions. Chronic poisoning can damage the physiological functions of the liver and kidneys.

Realgar is poisonous. In vitro tests show that it has inhibitory effects on common pathogenic skin fungi such as common pyogenic cocci, intestinal pathogens, human and bovine tuberculosis bacteria, Clostridium difficile and other common pathogenic skin fungi.

The above points are a brief introduction to what realgar is. I believe that through the above points of simple introduction, everyone has a preliminary understanding of what realgar is. Although drinking a small amount of realgar wine can detoxify and kill insects, you must control the amount of drinking, otherwise drinking too much may cause poisoning.