ZOOLOGY. 363 



ance of exuberant health. Out of many examples I select the fol- 

 lowing : 



" A farm-servant who worked in the cow-house belonging to , 



was thin and pale, but nevertheless well and healthy. This girl had 

 a lover whom she wished to enchain still more firmly ; and, in order to 

 obtain a more pleasing exterior, she had recourse to the well-known 

 means, and swallowed every week several doses of arsenic. The de- 

 sired result was obtained ; and in a few months she was much fuller 

 in the figure, rosy-cheeked, and, in short, quite according to her lover's 

 taste. In order to increase the effect, she was so rash as to increase 

 the dose of arsenic, and fell a victim to her vanity : she was poisoned, 

 and died an agonizing death. The number of deaths, in consequence 

 of the immoderate enjoyment of arsenic, is not inconsiderable, especially 

 among the young. Every priest who has the cure of souls in those 

 districts where the abuse prevails could tell such tragedies ; and the 

 inquiries I have myself made on the subject have opened out very sin- 

 gular details. Whether it arise from fear of the law, which forbids the 

 unauthorized possession of arsenic, or whether it be that an inner voice 

 proclaims to him his sin, the arsenic-eater always conceals as much as 

 possible the employment of these dangerous means. Generally speak- 

 ing, it is only the confessional or the death-bed that raises the veil 

 from the terrible secret. The second object the poison-eaters have in 

 view is to make them, as they express it, 'better winded!' that 

 is, to make their respiration easier when ascending the mountains. 

 Whenever they have far to go, and to mount a considerable height, 

 they take a minute morsel of arsenic and allow it gradually to dissolve. 

 The effect is surprising ; and they ascend with ease heights which 

 otherwise they could climb only with distress to the chest. The dose 

 of arsenic with which the poison-eaters begin, consists, according to 

 the confession of some of them, of a piece the size of a lentil, which 

 in weight would be rather less than half a grain. To this quantity, 

 which they take fasting- several mornings in the week, they confine 

 themselves for considerable time ; and then gradually, and very care- 

 fully, they increase the dose according to the effect produced. The 



peasant R , living in the parish of A g, a strong, hale man 



of upwards of sixty, takes at present at every dose a piece of about the 

 weight of four grains. For more than forty years he has practised 

 tills habit, which he inherited from his father, and which he in his 

 turn will bequeath to his children. 



"It is well to observe, that neither in these nor in other poison- 

 eaters is there the least trace of an arsenic cachexy discernible ; that 

 the symptoms of a chronic arsenical poisoning never show themselves 

 in individuals who adapt the dose to their constitution, even although 

 that dose should be considerable. It is not less worthy of remark, 

 however, that when, either from inability to obtain the acid, or from any 

 other cause, the perilous indulgence is stopped, symptoms of illness are 

 sure to appear, which have the closest resemblance to those produced 

 by poisoning from arsenic. These symptoms consist principally in a 

 feeling of general discomfort, attended by a perfect indifference to all 

 surrounding persons and things', great personal anxiety, and various 



