Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles. 551 



nually taking arsenic in quantities usually supposed sufficient to 

 produce death. Many of the reporting medical men had no expe- 

 rience of the practice ; others describe certain cases of arsenic-eating 

 which have not come under their personal notice, but which they 

 have been told of by trustworthy people whose names are given ; 

 whilst others, again, report upon cases which they themselves have 

 observed. Professor Roscoe proceeded to bring forward, in the first 

 place, evidence bearing upon the question, "Is or is not arsenious 

 acid, or arsenic in any other form, well known to, and distributed 

 amongst the people of Styria ?" He said that he had received 6 grms. 

 of a white substance forwarded by Professor Gottlieb, of Gratz, 

 accompanied by a certificate from the district judge of Knittelfeld 

 in Styria, stating that this substance was brought to him by a 

 peasant woman, who told him that she had seen her farm-labourer 

 eating it, and that she gave it up to justice to put a stop to so evil 

 a practice. An accurate chemical analysis showed that the substance 

 was pure arsenious acid. Extracts from many of the reports of the 

 medical men were then read, all stating that arsenious acid, called 

 " Hidrach " by the Styrian peasants, is well known and widely dis- 

 tributed in that country. The second question to which Mr. Roscoe 

 sought to obtain an answer was, whether arsenic is or is not re- 

 gularly taken by persons in Styria in quantities usually supposed 

 to produce immediate death ? The most narrowly examined, and 

 therefore the most interesting, case of arsenic-eating is one recorded 

 by Dr. Schafer. In presence of Dr. Knappe, of Oberzehring, a man 

 thirty years of age and in robust health ate, on the 22nd of Febru- 

 ary, 1860, a piece of arsenious acid weighing A\ grains, and on 

 the 23rd another piece weighing 5| grains. His urine was carefully 

 examined, and shown to contain arsenic ; on the 24th he went away 

 in his usual health. He informed Dr. Knappe that he was in the 

 habit of taking the above quantities three or four times each week. 

 A number of other cases, witnessed by the medical men themselves, 

 of persons eating arsenic, were then detailed. Dr. Holler, of Hart- 

 berg, says that he and other persons, named in his report, guarantee 

 that they are together acquainted with forty persons who eat arsenic ; 

 and Dr. Forcher, of Gratz, gives a list of eleven people in his neigh- 

 bourhood who indulge in the practice. Professor Roscoe did not 

 think it necessary to translate the reports in extenso ; he gave extracts 

 containing the portions immediately bearing upon the two questions 

 at issue, and deposited authentic copies .of the original reports with 

 the Society for the purpose of reference. He concluded that deci- 

 sive evidence had, in his opinion, been brought forward, not only to 

 prove that arsenic is well known and widely distributed in Styria, 

 but that it is likewise regularly eaten, for what purpose he did not 

 at the moment investigate, in quantities usually considered sufficient 

 to produce immediate death. — From the Proceedings of the Manchester 

 Literary and Philosophical Society, October 30, 1860. 



