364 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



distressing sensations arising from the digestive organs, want of appe- 

 tite, a constant feeling of the stomach being overloaded at early morn- 

 ing, an unusual degree of 'salivation, a burning from the pylorus to the 

 throat, a cramp-like movement in the pharynx, pains in the stomach, 

 and especially difficulty of breathing. For all these symptoms there 

 is but one remedy a return to the enjoyment of arsenic. 



44 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 the cocoa- 

 leaves among the natives of Peru. When once commenced, however, 

 it becomes a necessity. 



" In Vienna, the use of arsenic is of every-day occurrence among 

 horse-dealers, and especially with the coachmen of the nobility. They 

 either shake it in a pulverized state among the corn, or they tie a 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 the animal soon dis- 

 solves it. The sleek, round, shining appearance of the carriage horses, 

 and especially the much-admired foaming at the mouth, is the result 

 of this arsenic feeding. It is a common practice with the farm ser- 

 vants in the mountainous parts to strew a pinch of arsenic on the last 

 feed of hay before going up a steep road. This is done for years with- 

 out the least unfavorable result ; but should the horse fall into the 

 hands of another owner, who withholds the arsenic, he loses flesh im- 

 mediately, is no longer lively, and, even with the best feeding, there 

 is no possibility of restoring him to his former sleek appearance." 



In relation to this subject, the editor of Chambers' Journal remarks : 

 "Arsenic is said to be harmless in the quantity of one sixteenth part of 

 a grain ; and in the cure of agues it is so certain in its effects, that the 

 French Directory once issued an edict, ordering the surgeons of the Ital- 

 ian army, under pain of military punishment, to banish that complaint, 

 at two or three days' notice, from among the vast number of soldiers 

 who were languishing under it in the marshes of Lombardy. It would 

 eeem that no poison, ta,ken in small and diluted quantities, is imme- 

 diately hurtful, and the same thing may be said of other agents. The 

 tap of a fan, for instance, is a blow, and so is the stroke of a club ; but 

 the one gives an agreeable sensation, and the other fells the recipient 

 to the ground. In like manner the analogy holds good between the 

 distribution of a blow over a comparatively large portion of the sur- 

 face of the body and the dilution or distribution of the particles of a 

 poison. But the misfortune is, that poisons, swallowed for the sake of 

 the agreeable sensations they occasion, owe their effect to their action 

 on the nervous system ; and the action must bo kept up by a constantly 

 increasing dose till the constitution is irremediably injured. In the case 

 of arsenic, as we have seen, so long as the excitement is uhdiminished, 

 all is apparently well ; but the point is at length reached when to pro- 

 ceed or to turn back is alike death. The moment the dose is dimin- 

 ished or entirely withdrawn, symptoms of poison appear, and the vic- 

 tim perishes because he has shrunk from killing himsolf. We trust 

 this vice will never bo added to the madnesses of our own country. 



