Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1891-05-15
TIE USE OF ARSENIC.
SOME CAUSES AND EFFECTS OF
A DEADLY VICE.


peasants of Europe-The Excuses
Made by the Devotees of Arsenic--otber
Poisons Used.
IL is not generally known to what an
alarming extent poison eating is practiced
III ehls country as well as in Europe In
some Oh the districs of lower Austria, and
III oVyfla, especially in the mountainous
parts, there prevails the habit of eating
arsenic The peasantry are particularly
given to it. They obtain it under tbe
name OF hedri, from travelling hucksters
and gatherers Of herbs, who. on their
part, procure it from the glass blowers or
from the low doctors or mountebanks
Inc arsenic eater has a twofold aim in
me DANGEROUS enjoyment, one of which is
lhe desire to obtain a fresh, healthy an
Pearance ana acquire q certain degree OF
enDonpolnt, and on this account lads and
ilssics Ill the European countries employ
the agent that they may become more
attractive to each other, and their en-
beavers are attended with astonishing re-
suits, for the poison eaters are. generally
speaking, distinguished by fresh COM
pleXiOn, and have the appearance of exu-
berant health. Not long since a farm
servant, who was thin and pale. but we'll
and healthy, wished to make herself more
attractive to her lover, and in order to
OBTAIN a more pleasing exterior, swal-
lowed every week several doses of ar
senlc. The desired result was obtained.
In a few months she was quite according
10 her lovers taste. In order to increase
the erect she increased the dose of ar
senic, and fell victim to her vanity She
was poisoned and died distressing death.
DEATHS FROM ARSENIC.
Inc number of deaths in consequence of
the linmoderate enjoyment of arsenic is
hot liconslderable, especially among the
young whether it arises from fear of
! lhe law, winch forbids the unauthorized
possession of arsenic, or whether il he
that an inner voice proclaims to him his
sin, the arsenic eater always conceals as
much possible the use of it. The Euro
pean peasants say they eat it to make
themselves 'better winded"-that is. to
make the respiration easier when ascend
ing the mountains. Whenever they have
iar TO go and to mount Il considerable
height they take minute morsel of
arsenic and allow 1t to gradually dissolve
III the mouth They say the effect is sur.
prising, and they ascend with ease heights
Wnlch otherwise they could climb only
with distress to the chest.
The dose with which the poison enters
begin consists of rather less than half a
grain, and then the quantity is increased
according to the effect produced | re-
Gently learned of man of 60 wears who
at present takes at every dose a piece
about the weight of four grains. For
forty years he has practiced the habit.
which he inherited from his father, and
ne i'll all probability, will bequeath the
same to his children. 1t is stated that
neither III these nor in other poison eaters
is there the least trace of an arsenic
cacheXy discernible, and that the symp-
toms of chronic arsenical poisoning
never show themselves in individuals who
adapt the dose to their constitution, even
though that dose should be considerable.
but when from inability to obtain the acid
or other cause the perlous indulgence is
stopped, there appear symptoms of illness
which have the closest resemblance to
those produced by arsenic poisoning. These
symptoms consist principally in a feeling
OF general discomfort, attended by per-
feet indifference to all surrounding per-
sons and things, great personal anxiety,
and various distressing sensations arising
from the digestive organs, lack of APP
petite, constant feeling that the stomach
is overloaded in the morning, a burning
from the pylorus to the throat pains in
the stomach and particularly great diff
Guilty in breathing. For all these symp-
toms there is but one remedy-a return
to the use Of arsenic.
OTHER PoIsONs USED.
Poison eating among the inhabitants of
lower Austria has not grown into q pas
sion as is the case with the opium caters
in the east the chewers of the betel nut
i'll India and Polynesia and of the coca
leaves among the natives of Peru. When
once commenced, however, it becomes a
necessity. In some districts sublimate of
quicksilver is used in the same way. An
authenticated case is mentioned by DR..
Won Tschudi of great opium eater at
Brussa who daily consumed the enormous
quantity of forty grains of corrosive sub
Innate with his opium. In the mountain
GUS parts of Peru the doctor met very fire.
quently with eaters of corrosive SUBJ
Innate, and the practice in Bolivia, where
this poison is openly sold in the market to
the Indians, is still greater.
Poisons that are swallowed for the sake
of the agreeable sensations they occasion
owe this effect to their action upon the
nervous system, and the practice must be
kept up by a constantly increasing dose
until the constitution is irremediably in
jured In the case of arsenic, so long as
the excitement is undiminished all is ap-
parently well; but the point is at length
reached when to turn back or to proceed
are alike, death. The moment tho dose
is diminished or withdrawn entirely then
the victim perishes, because he has shrunk
from killing himself. Arsenic is said by
DR., Pearson to be as harmless as a glass
of wine in the quantity of one-siXteenth
part of a grain, and in the case of agues
it is so certain in its effects that the French
directory once issued an edlct ordering
the surgeons of the Italian army, under
pain of military punishment, TO Danish
that complaint at two or three days notice
from among the vast numbers of soldiers
who were languishing under it in the
marshes Of Lombardy. 1t seems that no
poison taken in small and diluted doses is
Immediately hUrtful, and the same thing
may be said of other agents. IN. Il. H."
in Boston Herald.