Savannah morning news., 1885-08-29

The Dangers That Attend Their Strange
Habit.


1t must not, however, be supposed that
any one takes to hedri, or arsenic eating,
quite openly. On the contrary, it IS gen
orally begun in secret and a. the increase
OF the moon, and in some villages with su-
perstiti0us observances. A very small dose
Is at first taken once "a weeN-bread and
butter is the favOrIte medium-then twice
a week and so on until, when the indiYld-
ual arrives az dose daily, the dose ltsrH
is increased till as much be taken as IN
ordinary circumstances would XIII Two
or three individuals. But it must not be
understood that those people can consume
the drug altogether with impunity. W hen
they first begin with their very small
doses they are seized with nausea and
burning pains in the mouth, throat ana
stomach. and are probably very much
more uncomfortable than boy who has
taken his first cigar. But one peculiarly
of arsenic eating is this, that when man
has once begun TO indulge in IL he must
continue 10 indulge; for il he ceases the
arsenic in his system posOus him; or, As
IL is popularity expressed, the last dose
kills him. Indeed. the arsenic eater must
not only continue his inGulkence-he must
also increase tue quantity of his drug, so
that it 10 extremely difficult 10 stop the
habit; tor, as sudden cessation causes
death, the gradual cessation produces
such terrible heart gnawlng that it may
probably be said that no genuine arsenic
eater ever ceased to eat arsenic while
life lasted, II is curious that while, on
the one hand, the human organism is 80
remarkably sensitive to arsenic, man
may, on the other hand, indulge in these
poisonous doses for years. This is prOba-
bly owing to the fact that arsenic acts on
the skin, aud thus is being constantly car
ried out OF the system and also because
il is readily eliminated by tie kidneys.
Now, this prevents any accumulation GO
ing on In the tissues, and thus what might
seem almost mythical is at least brought
within the range Of possibility. II has
been calculated that this process OF elimi-
nation has 10 be carried on for fourteen
days before given dose is entirely re-
moved. But yet the fact remains that
these Austrian peasants can swallow ar
senic to an extent and With an immunity
unprecedented in the annals Of tOXicOlO-
gy. For the solution Of the problem we
may offer the following considerations:
First Of all, the human organism may be-
come accustomed to most IL not all pol
sons. il they are administered at first In
exceedingly small doses; and In this way
a poison. as is well known. may become
"mithridateV to itself. Secondly, though
the human organism is extremely sensible
10 arsenic, YET some constitutions may %
less so than others; thus, for instance. the
arsenic eaters OF Styria are all of them
robust II Ountainpers, whose t0reiatners
nave eaten arsenic from generation TO
generation, so that, rs may be supposed,
each generation has become more arsenic
proof than the one before 1t. Thirdly
like most mOuntaineers, the Styrians con-
sumo large quantities of milk and butter
as well as other food rich in fats, when
the oily matters to a certain extent
unite with the arsenic, forming an arseni-
cal soap, which does not so READILY enter
into the blood, 50 that the total amount of
arsenic actually assimilated is proper
tiOnally small. From this we see that if
the Syrian partakes Of an unusual amount
of this deadly drug, be is at the same time
not only less susceptible to its Influence
by his hereditary descent and his habits,
but his food supplies him with some sort
Of an antidOte.