214 PROFESSOR H. E. ROSCOE ON THE ALLEGED 



Jahrbuch d. CEstr. Staates, 1822. The professor says : "The 

 reason of the frequency of these sad cases (of poisoning) 

 appears to me to be the familiarity with arsenic which 

 exists in our country^ particularly in the higher parts. 

 There is hardly a district in upper Styria where you do 

 not find arsenic at least in one house under the name of 

 ' Hidrach.' They use it for the complaints of the domestic 

 animals, to kill vermin, and as a stomachic to excite an 

 appetite. I saw one peasant show another on the point of 

 a knife how much arsenic he took daily, without which, 

 he said, he could not live ; the quantity I should estimate 

 at two grains." 



The sale of arseuious acid is strictly forbidden by law in 

 Styria, and according to Dr. Holler two applications for 

 permission to buy this substance were refused by the au- 

 thorities. Hence it is of course somewhat difficult to get 

 accurate accounts as to where the arsenic was obtained. 

 The difficulty of procuring exact information respecting 

 the arsenic-eating is also great, owing to the fact that the 

 habit is carried on in secret and is generally disapproved of. 



I shall now proceed to examine the question as to whether 

 arsenic is or is not regularly taken by persons in Styria in 

 quantities usually supposed sufficient to produce death. 



I. Cases coming under the personal observation of 

 medical men. 



The most narrowly examined and therefore the most 

 interesting and valuable record of a case of arsenic eating, 

 is that described by Dr. Schiifer in the paper above referred 

 to. The case fell under the personal examination of Dr. 

 Knappe of Oberzehring. In presence of this medical man. 

 a wood-cutter thirty years of age, who stated that he had 

 taken arsenic for twelve years, and had always been in 

 good health, did, on the 22nd of February i860, eat a 



