The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-01-06

Ol dISGHlC dllu dlluW IL tO bAS- solve. The effect Is surprising, and they ascend with ease heights which otherwise they could climb only with distress to the chest. The dose of ar senic with which the poison eaters be- gin consists, according to the confess sions of some of them, of piece the size of lentil, which in weight would be rather less than half grain. To this quantity, which they take fasting several mornings in the week, they con- fine themselves for considerable time, and then gradually and very carefully they increase the dose, according to the effect produced.
 "A peasant living in the parish of A-g a strong, hale man of upward of sixty, takes at present at every dose a piece of about the weight of four grains. For more than forty years he has prac-
 tsed this habit, which he inherited from his father, and which he in his turn will bequeath to his children. It is we'll to observe that neither in these
 nor in other poison eaters is there the least trace of an arsenic cachexy dis cernible; that the symptoms of chron-
 ic arsenical poisoning never show them selves in individuals who adapt the
 dose to their constitution, even although that dose be considerable. It is not less worthy of remark, however, that when, either from inability to obtain the drug or from any other cause, the perilous
 indulgence Is stopped, symptoms of ill., ness are sure to appear, which have the closest resemblance to those produced by poisoning from arsenic. These symptoms consist principally in feel ing of general discomfort, attended by perfect indifference to all surrounding persons and things, great personal anx- iety, and various distressing sensations arising from the digestive organs, want of appetite, constant feeling of the
 stomach being overloaded at early
 morning, an unusual degree of saliva tion, burning from the pylorus to the throat, a cramp-like movement in the
 pharynx, pains in the stomach, and es- pecially difficulty of breathing. For all
 these symptoms there is but one reme- dy-a return to the enjoyment of ar- senic."
 According to inquiries made on the | subject, it would seem that the habit of eating poison among the inhabitants of Lower Austria has not grown into a passion, as is the case with the opium eaters in the east, the chewers of the betel nut in India and Polynesia and of l the coca leaves among the natives of Peru. When once commenced, however, | 1t becomes a necessity In some dis I tricts sublimate of quicksilver Is used | in the same way One case in particu- | lar is mentioned by Dr. Von Tschudi, a l case authenticated by the English am | bassador at Constantinople, of great | opium eater at Brusso, who daily con- stunned the enormous quantity of forty | grains of corrosive sublimate with his | opium Tn the mountain part of Peru l the doctor met very frequently with l eaters of corrosive sublimate; and in
 Bolivia the practice is still more ire l quent, where this poison is openly sold l in the market to the Indians. In Vien-
 na the use of arsenic is of everyday oc- currence among horse dealers, and es- pecially with the coachmen of the nobil- l ity. They either shake it in a pulver- | ized state among the corn, or they tie | bit the size of a pea in a piece of linen, | which they fasten to the curb when the | horse is harnessed, and the saliva of 1 the animal soon dissolves it. The sleek, ,s round, shining condition of the carriage horses, and especially the much admired ] foaming at the mouth, is the result of l this arsenic feeding. It is a common 1 practice with the farm servants in the mountainous parts to strew pinch of | arsenic on the last feed of hay before l going up steep road. This is done for l years without the least unfavorable re- suits; but should the horse fall into the | hands of another owner who withholds l the arsenic he loses flesh immediately, 1 is no uonger lively, and even with the
 best feeding there is no possibility of re- | storing him to his former sleek appear l ance.
 The writer of fifty years ago, in liar pers Magazine, after giving the results of the findings of "a contributor resid- ing in Germany" regarding poisons of a | peculiarly quick and deadly nature
 uses these blunt words: "Our ordinary indulgences in this country are the same in kind though not in degree, fol
 we are all poison eaters. To say noth- ing of our opium and alcohol consumers our teetotalers are delighted with the
 briskness and sparkle of spring water although these qualities indicate the
 presence of carbonic acid or fixed air l In like manner lew peTSOnS VIII ODJeC' to a drop or two of frghtfully corrosive
 sulphuric acid (vitrioD in a glass O.
 water, to which it communicates ar
 agreeably acid taste; and most of u'
 have, at some period or other of oul lives, imbibed prussic acid, arsenic ant
 other deadly poisons under the orders
 of the physician, or the first of these II
 the more pleasing form of confectionery
 Arsenic is said by Dr. Pearson to be al
 harmless as glass of wine in the quan
 tity of one sixteenth part of grain
 and in the cure of ague it is so certain
 in it's effects that the French Directory
 once issued an edict ordering the sur
 eeons of the Italian army, under pair
 of military punishment, to banish tha
 complaint, at two or three days notic
 from among the vast numbers of sol ders who were languishing under it il . the marshes of Lombardy. It woult seem that no poison taken in small ant l diluted doses is immediately hurtful and the same thing may be said o other agents The tap of fan, for in stance, is a blow and so is the stroke o ] a club; but the one gives an agreeabl WHERE WILL YOU GO THIS WINTER? :?
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