208 ANNUAL OP SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERT. 



action is most likely to exist in this submerged mountain range. It strength- 

 ens the probability of the eruptive character of the Cortcz Shoals. 



INFLUENCE OF AESENIOUS ACID UPON THE WASTE OF THE 



ANIMAL TISSUE. 



According to experiments made by Prof. Schmidt and Dr. Stuerzwage, of 

 Dorpat, arsenious acid, when introduced into the circulation, occasions a 

 considerable diminution of the ordinary waste of the tissues. 



This decrease, which amounts to from twenty to forty per cent, occurs 

 even after the administration of very small doses; more rapidly if the acid 

 is injected directly into the veins; more slowly, yet with equal intensity, if 

 absorbed from the intestines. The action is most striking in the case of 

 fowls, which neither vomit after injection of the arsenic nor reject their 

 accustomed food; but even in cats, which are subject to vomiting after the 

 injection, and must therefore be regarded as in a starving condition, the 

 waste of the organism was diminished about twenty per cent, after sub- 

 tracting the decrease occasioned by the mere want of food. 



This fact satisfactorily explains the fattening of horses after small doses 

 of arsenious acid, a phenomenon well known to horse-dealers. 



An amount of fat and albuminous substances equivalent to the repressed 

 carbonic acid and urea remains in the body and increases its weight, if the 

 animal receives at the same time a sufficient amount of food. 



AVhen larger doses of arsenious acid are given, nervous symptoms appear, 

 which may be classified in two groups : spinal irritation and paralysis. To 

 the first may be referred the vomiting, the accelerated respiration, the feeble 

 pulse; to the last, the inclination to sleep, the weakness, and the retarded 

 and labored breathing. Both may be explained by the very considerable 

 congestion of the central organs which was constantly observed in post- 

 mortem examinations. 



These experiments are of particular interest, since they go far to prove the 

 complete reliability of the published accounts of the custom of "arsenic- 

 eating," which is said to prevail among the peasantry of several Austrian 

 provinces. These accounts have been time and again held up to ridicule by 

 lexicologists, and, as a rule, have been received with suspicion by all scien- 

 tiiic men. 



During the past year, a great amount of evidence bearing on this subject 

 has been collected by Prof. Heisch, F. R. C., and published in the London 

 Creniic.al News (May 19, 1800); so that if human testimony is worth any- 

 thing, the fact of the existence of arsenic-eaters must be regarded as beyond 

 a doubt. Prof. Heisch states that he has been informed by Dr. Lorenz, Im- 

 perial Professor of Natural History, formerly of Salzburg, that he knows 

 that arsenic is commonly taken by the peasants in Styria,the Tyrol, and the 

 Salxkammergut, principally by huntsmen and wood-cutters, to improve their 

 wind and prevent fatigue. He gives the following particulars :- 



The arsenic is taken pure in some warm liquid, as coffee, fasting, begin- 

 ning with a bit the size of a pin's head, and increasing to that of a pea. 

 The complexion a:ul general appearance are much improved, and the parties 

 using it seldom look so old as they really are; but he has never heard of any 

 case In which it was used to improve personal beauty, though he cannot say 

 that it never is so used. Tlic first dose is always followed by slight symp- 

 toms of poiioning, f.ucli as burning pain in the stomach and sickness, 



