the waste of the Animal Tissue. 215 
ing by him—that the weight of his body rapidly increased, some 
20 Ibs. having been gained in the course of the two months, dur- 
ing which he was subject to absorb the acid, his hands having 
been, frequently in contact with the arsenical solution: arsenic 
being detected the while in his solid and liquid excrements. As 
soon, however, as the exposure to the arsenic ceased, his weight 
began to decrease, and in the course of 9 or 10 weeks, fell back 
again to its normal—150 lbs. Believing that direct, positive 
evidence like this—though the instance be solitary—where the 
subject of the experiment was a healthy, vigorous man, and a 
trained observer, ought to outweigh almost any amount of nega- 
hive testimony, such as has been brought forward by physicians 
who have not witnessed similar effects upon their diseased pa- 
hents when the latter were treated with arsenical preparations. 
Itshould be observed that one of the strongest arguments brought 
up by toxicologists against the truth of the accounts of the arse- 
me eaters has been drawn from the result of medical practice. 
Without attempting to discuss the matter at length, it may, nev- 
ertheless be permitted to the non-professional reader of the med- 
ical literature bearing upon this subject to remark that the evi- 
nee there accumulated in spite of its apparent obscurity and 
of the contradictions with which it is involved seems to point 
clearly to the fact that in minute doses arsenious acid acts bene- 
ficially upon the general health of many patients. Thus, accord- 
ing to Dr, Henry Hunt :* 
~~ heuralgic pain, it improves the general health, and gives firmness and 
ti * “* * Whil certain peculiar 
Ses fi 
oe growth of bone; or if it be complicated with engorgement o 
liver and other viscera; arsenic is usually injurious, and I believe sel- 
dom usefa].” 
ve Bain, not to multiply Instances further, Erichsen,t in treating of the 
ty ‘4 arsenic in diseases of the skin, “ lays great stress upon the necessi- 
i attending particularly to the constitution, and temperament of the 
P ere commencing the use of the medicine. It will be badly 
, & by 
or Sangu 
Properties of the metal. In such cases, the digestive organs become so ir- 
* In his work ited in Braithwaite’s Retrospect of 
upon Neuralgie Disorders, cited in Braithwaite’s Retrospect o 
"eet Med, 1844, No. ix, p. 34; also, ibid, No. x, p. 23. 
thwaite’s Retrospect, 1843, No. viii, p. 14. 
