210 PROFESSOR H. E. ROSCOE ON THE ALLEGED 



ters affecting this question, was laid before the Academy 

 of Sciences in Vienna a short time ago by Dr. Schafer* of 

 Gratz. I shall have the honour of laying before the 

 Society the results of these, as well as of other commu- 

 nications which I have received upon this subject. 



It is almost unnecessary to say at the outset, that, upon 

 a question of this kind, nothing but the most positive and 

 direct evidence can be received as conclusive. My aim 

 will simply be to endeavour to bring forward such evidence 

 as may help to decide the question whether arseuious acid 

 is, or is not, regularly eaten by men in Styria in quantities 

 usually supposed sufficient to produce death. I shall not 

 attempt to discuss or explain the superstitious notions 

 with which many of the reports naturally enough abound ; 

 iior shall I detail the various purposes for which the 

 arsenic is said to be taken, or the various modes in which 

 the dose is said to be administered. For the present pur- 

 pose I have not thought it necessary to translate the re- 

 ports in extenso, but I have extracted from them all such 

 portions as appear to me to bear more directl}' upon the 

 point under discussion; and I would propose to deposit 

 with the Society the accompanying accurate copies of all 

 the reports and other documents from which these ex- 

 tracts are made, in order that persons interested in the 

 inquiry may have opportunity of referring to the original 

 papers at full length. 



All the letters received from the medical men in Styria 

 agree in acknowledging the general prevalence of a belief 

 that certain persons are in the habit of continually taking 

 arsenic in quantities usually supposed to produce death. 

 Many of the reporting medical men have not had any ex- 

 perience of the practice; others describe certain cases of 

 arsenic-eating which have not come tinder their personal 



* Sitzungs BericMe der Academie d. Wissenschaften, i860. Band xli. 



P-573- 



