The Worthington advance., 1878-11-21
THE ARSENIC HABIT.

:: THE ARSENIC HABIT.
Present Beauty at: the Expense Of
Future Ugliness.
"She is one Of the arsenic CATERS"
"One of our patients2"
mo. never saw her before. But her
vice and folly are written on her face SO
plainly that he who runs may read"
why does she eat arscnic7" ...
''To make her pretty, as she fondly i'm
agines. AID it does seemingly do 80
temporarily. ! will tell eyou:.-tllz
signs by which you may .aox;
arsenic-eaters, ard you will be ast6lished
at the number who are addicted to the
vice. When you see a woman with
swollen skin and puffy eyelids, plump
and with milky whitenoss of complex
ion, you may be sure that you have
case. They think they are plump, but it
is fictitious plumpness. Instead of good
adipose tissue filling out the skin there
is only watcry secretion. They have
brought about dropsical condition of
the skin. And the first most prominent
place in which it becomes apparent is in
the eyelids, first the lower, then the up
per. Examine the skin, and you will see
that the pores seem enlarged and the skin
between them swollen and of an unnatural
whiteness. And this is not onfned TO the
face alone, you understand. I speak Of
the face simply because that you can SO
And when you look for the Transparent
white color On their faces, don't be de
ceived by delicare t1nge of red. If tho
brow and nose have that corpsey white,
the red cu the cheeks is paint. And ns
woman who uses arsenic can do without
paint"
''Are there many arsenic caters in New
York;"
"a very great many" the aged physi-
clan replied. "They are OF two classes,
actresses and the ladies OF fashionable
society. After arsenic has been taken for
long time," the doctor continued, ''it is
demanded by the system. It not only
affects the skin, but it lessons the excre-
ton Of carbonic acid and urea-checking
the rctrograde Observation-Disclosures
the cerebral functions, indu, es sense of
well-being, and in some subjects causes
decided mental exhilaration. Further
more, cessation of its use permits the wa
ter-distended skin to collapse, and then
wrinkles and yellowncss follow instead Of
plumpuess and transparency. What
woman could you expect to accept that
change when nothing more than her
sanity and life was in danger? 1t is also
said that the sudden stoppage Of tho
habit will produce all the symptoms Of
arscnical poisoning, and even result IA
tally"
A leading physician says: "It is true
that many women. especially profession
ais, become srsenicophagi through physi-
Clans prescriptions given for the cure of
cutaneous disorders induced by the pois~
On of lotions and washes for the face; but
I assure you, of my oyn positive knowl-
edge, that an infinitely greater number of
women off the stage employ this poison
to heighten their charms. I can tell an
arsenic eater at si..ht unerringly. An
Indian painted for the war path is not
ro,e co.. spicuous object to physicians
eye than woman who habitua,ly uses
arsenic. The puffed, watery skin is un-
mistakable. Fowler's solution, which is
very common form in which arsenic is
taken, is the arsenite Of potassa. Each
fluid dram contains a halt-grain of arsen-
ious aciu-each drop, say the LIE OF
grain-and when it is administered
incidentally the dose is three to five drops
three times day. Some patients and
others accustomed to it can take, how
ever, forty five drops per diem. Dono-
vans solution is the iodine of arsenic and
mercury, and is much weaker, only about
one third as strong, if remember ari ght.
De Valangin's solution is the t. r chloride
Of arsenic, and is only three-eighths
as strong as Fowler's solution. The
weakest preparation of al! is Pearson's
solution, the arseniate OF soda, which is
generally used externally only.
Il esteem arsenic as q most valuable
remedial agent, but it must be used with
care, and beyond doubt it is an exceed
ingly dangerous thing to addict ones
self to. But what can you say or do to
prevent its use by women. creatures who
use belladonna anc atropin and morphine,
and every other dee dly drug they imagine
can be made to serve to heighten their
physical destinations or give them a
temporary scmblance of vivacity2 You
tell them, lit will give you loathsome and
almost incurab!e cuttaneous diseases,
your scalp will become scurfy, your hair
will fall out. you will become puffed
up dEdropsical oftform,' and they simp-
ly reply, with self-satistcd smirk at
the mirror, while poision still gives them
fictitious beauty, 'Ah, we'll, We will stop
it before we come to that 1t is not an
easy thing to leave off. The arsenic hab-
it is almost as ifficult to put away as the
opium habit. Its victims do not dare to
stop it. I could tell you Of one bright
little lady who only few years ago was
most charming soubrctte on our New
York stage. She had pretty face,
beautiful soprano voice, and a vivacity
that fairly electrified her audience. But
she was very thin. She was 50 thin
that to conceal her meagaeness in the
days of fitting hoops she used TO wear
her pads all the time, even in summer.
She took to using arsenic. She is row
too big to dance: her voice is no longer
clear, but muffled, as though by fat in
her throat. She has brought about a
physical condition that has crowded her
out of her line OF business, and threatens
soon to retire her altogether from the
stage, and yet she dare not leave off the
use of the drug that has wrought the
change in her. And she will keep on
getting stouter aud stouter, or rather
more and more dropsical, until it kills
her, probably, if she cannot renounce the
habit.
ut is true that woman can get arsenic
at almost any drug store with very little
question. It is sufficient for Mrs. A. to
know that Mrs. B. gets an arsenical solu-
ton from particular drug store, and go
ing there, to say. Put me up an ounce of