The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-10-09
TO MAKE WAR ON ARSENIC.
A Concerted Movement Of Boards Of
Health


To such extremes has the arsenic eat
America that the health boards of thirty
cities and nine states will shortly take
measures to discourage use of the drug.
The concerted action thus inaugurated'
will be unprecedented in its nature and
extent and source of surprise to many
persons who have no idea of the length TO
which the arsenic habit has ravaged the
health OF American women and girls.
The FIRST intimation that any evil ex
listed came in evidences of the enormous
| increase of the trade in arsenic during
the past five years. Governmental sta
tistcs arc always very dry affairs, but
any one curious enough to compare the
figures of the treasury and interior de-
partments will be surprised at the reveal
| tons they make on the subject of ar
senic. Now comparisons of these figures
| with the health reports show a decline
in the diseases for which arsenic is a spe-
Cific. thus the health board of New
York first became aware that great guam
titles of the drug were being used with
out the mediation of a doctors prescrip-
ton.
But the inductive evidence, thanks to
the labOrs of such experts as DR.. Cyrus
| Edison, commissioner of health of New
York; Surgeon General Walter Wyman,
of the treasury department, and former
Chief A. L. Drummond of the secret SER
vice, that arsenic is the source of many
a woman's beauty became irrefutable as
| time went on.
l. 1t is becoming more and more evident
that American women who lead lives
which make personal attractiveness n de-
sirable possession, are characterized by a
languor that is melting, by a fragility
| that is more emblematic of the lily than
consistent with nd " a
slow, sibilant utterance, clear and reso-
| nant, but accompanied by nervous eX-
| citability of the lips. Added to this is
the growing rarity of a pair of rosy
cheeks, and the frequency of that pallor
of countenance which imparts a distin-
| guished air to the most irregular features.
OF course, it is the effect upon the skin
which tempts so many women to their ar
senical serVitude. Arsenic, of all drugs,
is wonderful in its cosmetic effects. After
a few months dosing the cuticle ac-
quires a pellucid clearness, free from
| spot or blemish, beneath which the fine
| tracing of a vein or the unrestricted play
of an emotion is exquisitely pictured. To
/ be sure, there are some obstinate skins,
/ which Will yield only to a prolonged dos
/ ing, but there is further compensation
| in such cases through the softening of
| harshness in the Vsage, and a general
rounding out of what in this way be-
]
| Now, this pleasing state of things, like
| the ugliness of the sibyl, is external only.
The woman who uses arsenic for any
| length of time draws drafts upon the near
! future which are only redeemed in the
| bankruptcy of her health. The languor
which externally is delicious, proves in
| wardly a torture. That exquisite white
ness of brow cheeks, nose and neck, is
] concomitant only with an organic agony
in comparison with which the path OF viz
tue is triumph of the flesh. And when
the repose of the pillow affords to an ugly
girl the solace of dreams or sleep, her
fair, drugged sister losses like a skiff in
storm, lighting vivid nightmares. The
devil, according to st. Cyprian, makes
women pay for their beauty. Arsenic, in
| this respect, is like the devil
| When the reports of the treasury de-
| partment and that of the interior had
| been received, the question arose: How
| is the evil to be dealt with? 1t may not
| be known to many men, although it un-
| doubtedly is to most women, that an i'm
! mense business has grown up all over the
| country in the manufacture and sale of
| what are known as arsenic complexion
waters. In New York, Philadelphia, Chi
cago and Boston these goods are delv-
cred from wagons to the retail druggists,
/ so great has the trade become.
The waters are white pellets which must
be taken morning and night indefinitely.
Now these goods contain very little ar
senic, but when a woman whose system
does not yield readily becomes impatient
for results, she has another resource at
command. This is to persuade a medical
friend to give her prescription for the
drug, or to purchase it on some pretense
at drug store Young girls are the
| most frequent victims of this sort. 1t is
a curious fact that very few women over
so are arsenic fiends in this country, which
shows the habit to be comparatively re-
cent here.
But when woman has once become a
user of the drug in this way there seems
no escape for her. The horrors set forth
in that lurid volume, The Confessions
/ of an Opium Eater" are nothing com
pared to the ordeal of the woman who is
battling the craving for arsenic. Even
few weeks abandonment of the drug will
| convert her languorous beauty into faded
ughness. The skin assumes the tint of
ancient whitewash. The nose grows
habby and the hue which so adorns the
cheek capriciously establishes itself at
the tip of that olfactory organ. The head
grows heavy and the nervous system, like
the heroine Of any paper covered romance,
is torn with contending emotions. sin
gle look in the mirror makes this wretched
creature an arsenic consumer once more.
[ Does any man deem this an exaggerated
picture, or that we are not suffering ma
tionally from the habit which is RESPONSE
Bile for 1T? Ask an authority on the drug
trade, or any active member of the boards
of health OF such metropolitan centers as
San Francisco, St. Louis, Philadelphia,
Boston, New York and Chicago. The con-
certed action which these bodies will
make has reference only to the sale of
the drug. The efforts OF Commissioner
Edison himself have been largely rendered
nugatory by the facility with which small
quantities OF arsenic can be mailed
from one city to another. Moreover, the
legislation of the states is not uniform.
But now 1t Is intended to prevent the sale
Of the drug unless specially prescribed,
and to break up the trade in arsehicated
nostrums. A bill has been prepared and
will shortly be introduced into various
legislatures to this end.
arsenic has always offered a great
temptation to women" said Dr.. Cyrus
Edison, reviewing the subject when he
was asked about It. but. after all, we
can only take general measures / do not
see how to prevent the use Of the drug
unless we convince the women that II
does more harm than good. They can al
ways procure It by stealth. even II II be
made a msdemeanor to traffic In it, and