The record-union., 1894-02-03
Peculiar Habits Of the Syrian
Peasant.
Mountain Life and Vegetarian Diet
Make 1t Possible for Them to Take
Five or six Grains a Day without
Danger-Murder an Easy Matter.


ent of the New y ork Press. The COM
munication was written recently at Gratz.
IN the Styrian Mountains:
'He is the strongest lad in our COM
munity, but then he eats his six grains
every two days"
six grains of what?"
'Asenic, OF course; we all do it. My
sweetheart, Anna Maria, has only just
begun to take it, and you should see her
complexion. Her arms are as white as
those of a city lady, and she thinks moth
ing of carrying hundred pound weight
on her head up the mountain"
repeated this conversation, which
had with sturdy peasant boy who sold
ME piece of eidelweiSs on the market
place to-day, 20 an officer of the judiciary
at our usual meeting at the Imperial Cafe
alter the theater.
AZ heard OF this habit while travelling
through the Italian Alps" l said, land as
II was reported to me that the poison is
supposed to have certain strengthening
qualities and helps digestion, ascribed
its use to the poverty condition
OF the people. thinking that perhaps they
would be glad TO partake of any nourish-
ment that constitutes a variation of their
eternal maize and oily macaroni."
The Austrian officer laughed. 'The
Steier-nIarkers have plenty to eat, thank
God" he remarked. "They take to
arsenic as the Chinese do to opium and
the dudes of all nations TO cigarettes. 1t
IS generally regarded as small vice.
only, though serious consequences may
result. / mean that the arsenic-eating
habit among the mountain people makes
my business a special burden, impedeS
Justice and encourages murder.
TAKE TO THE DRUG EARY IN LIFE.
''Arsenic-eating is not practiced in our
cities and it is but rarely that the courts
OF justice take notice OF cases OF this kind
in any one of the great centers of civiliZa-
ton the world over. Our peasants and
mountain folk, like their kinsmen in Ty-
rol and lower Austria, usually begin eat
ing arsenic with their eighteenth year.
Their fathers and mothers have done SO
before them. 1t cannot be sinful, other
wise the wOrShipful father, the priest,
would not indulge in it, and yet he takes
bis mouthtul OF arsenic before he starts
ont to carry the holy sacrament to dy-
ing parishioner on the moutain peak.
The initial dose is Q piece of White arsenic
or sulphur arsenic as big as the hall OF a
pea. They first take it every Sunday,
then they begin to take it Sundays and
W ednesdays, and finally every other day.
The dose is successively increased also
until it reaches the proportion of. three
grains, or even twice that amount. L
know of one crusty old fellow who
crunches up five to six grains q day and
enjoys it. He acted as my guide when
ascending the Eisenhut Mountain and at
tracted my attention by his robust health.
'Ah,' he said, this is the stuff that helps
me carry my 90 years so easily With
that he took corn of arsenic from the
pocket of his leather Waistband as big as
"a coffee bean and placed it between his
teeth, chewing il with as much relish as
a child would bonbOn.
"'A here do you get this stuff | asked
1.-The miners sell III cheap he said,
and then the Steiermarkers and Tyro-
leans swarming over Germany, and es-
pecially Silesia, carry it back to their
friends here. It's quite common beyond
the Alps, though / understand the people
do not eat it. Probably they have not
such immense mountains to overcome as
we'
NOT NEEDED BY MEAT-EATERS.
"'What have the mountains to do with
it?' asked.
Everything replied the old man in
q decisive manner. 1t strengthens the
muscles, helps US digest our coarse bread
and potatoes, and allows us to breathe
tree and easy. Meat-eaters like you have
no need for such a thing, but with US it is
a necessity
''Do the women indulge in it,?
"'Most of them say they don't, but l
know BETTER"
''The clear complexions and the silky
hair OF our mountain people is indeed re-
markable," continued the official, ''es-
pecially when it is considered that bath
ing is almost unknown with the rural
Steiermarkers. 1t is generally believed,
and the medical textbooks reinforce the
popular idea, that it is fatal for an arsenic
eater TO stop his allowance of the drug.
This holds not good here. The arsenic
eaters stop quite frequently, and during
the intervals use strong physic to purge
their system thoroughly. There is no
falling Oft in the health or outward ap-
pearance of the arsenic eaters perceptible
during the intervals when they abstain
from using the drug. However, on re-
Stunning the habit they begin with small
doses, gradually working up to their ac-
customed quantity.
''Some time ago village cemetery was
turned upside down by a landslide near
Muerzzuschlag. According TO official
records the burial place was nearly 400
years old, yet comparatively few skele-
ions were found. Most of the bodies had
been converted into mummies, and the
corpses of some well-known people, but
recently deceased, were remarkably well
preserved. This startled the villagers.
frhev feared that the curse of God was
uDon them and that they would not be
allowed to enter the kingdom of heaven.
MANY villagers contemplated selling their
belongings and settling elsewhere.
Finally the authorities had TO take hand
in the matter and publish memorandum
bv a popular scientist, setting forth that
the mummification had been caused by
the arsenic laden condition of the bodies
Then. of course, everybody was satisfied.
This proves that the vice is an ancient
hanit with the Steiermarkers; that they
nracticed it perhaps before the reforma-
ton.
MAKES MURDER AN EASY MATTER.
.,The authorities hear Of arsenic poi
soning among the peaSantry not unfre-
ouently, and to this L referred when
said that the habit makes my business as
an officer of the judiciary burden and
that it impedeS justice. In rural COM
munity numbering, let US say for argu-
roent,s sake, a hundred grown people,
one finds scarcely thirty not addicted to
arsenic eating. All the rest indulge in
the drug to an extent we'll known to the
members of their family, their friends
and neighbors. Though ignorant of any
other branch of medicine, these people
know exactly how far they can go in TAX
inc arsenic. The tenth of a grain too
much would be certain death, but that
quantity is easily administered in
wooden bumper of wine, as they use it
on the mountains, or ground fine in the
soup. for arsenic. while emitting a smell
strongly eselnblng that of garlic, when
burned is perfectly tasteless ii dissolved
in tood-at least the arsenic we find here
is. Once in a while the judiciary is in
formed that an old boss peasant living in
the so-called Altenthell-that part of the
farm or property reserved for the old
fiolks-has died under symptoms of poi
souing. An investigation is held and it
is proved beyond a doubt that the old
MON and his sons and daughters had been
on had terms for years. 1t is also proved
bevond question that the deceased was
an arsenic eater. If nobody saw the sup