ON THE ARSENIC-EATERS Of' STY11IA. 
617 
-concealing the practice, that from the strictness of the laws regarding the sale of 
poisons, they cannot get the arsenic by open purchase, as the opium-eater in this 
country can get his laudanum, and therefore they are generally obliged to purchase it 
from illicit dealers. 
I now proceed to narrate what I have myself ascertained by personal observatior. 
Though without an introduction to him, I called on the Medicinalrath, Dr. Von Vest, 
who on learning the object of my visit, with great courtesy put at my command any 
papers that his office contained, and in addition, supplied me with introductions 
to Drs. Knappe, Machar, and Tingler, the two former of whom I was fortunate enough 
to see, but I was unable to spare time to see Dr. Tingler. 
Dr. Machar, now resident at Stainz, who is thoroughly acquainted with all the medical 
matters of Styria, and whose experience during a long period of active professional work 
there makes his opinion of no small value, informed me that, although cognizant of the 
existence of the practice, he had little personal experience in the matter. He related to 
me, however, one case in which a woman who had been tried for poisoning her husband 
with arsenic, had been acquitted, from “ want of evidence,” the plea for the defence 
being that the man had been an arsenic-eater. Though this defence was generally 
believed to be false, it shows at all events that the practice has, in a court of justice, 
been admitted to exist, and has served in at least one instance as a successful ground of 
defence. 
Dr. Knappe, of Liegist, in Middle Styria, an hour’s journey from Gratz, was my next 
informant; and when I first spoke with him of the case of J. W., already alluded to as 
the subject of experiment, and whose urine had been examined by Dr. Schafer, he 
described him as a small strongly-built man, with a great muscular development, a 
wood-cutter by trade, who had taken the drug for a period of twelve years. 
Dr. Knappe further stated to me that, while personally ignorant of the actual existence 
of an arsenic-eater in the neighbourhood, he could go with me to Upper Styria, and 
show me the above man; but he suggested that we should first make inquiry in the 
village, whether or not any of those persons described to him as indulging in the habit 
could not be got to take a portion of it before me. I accordingly slept in Liegist that 
night, and next morning I had the satisfaction, in presence of Dr. Knappe and my 
companion Dr. Butter, of having my first interview with an arsenic-eater. 
Case 1.—Mathias Schober, a healthy-looking, fresh complexioned, fairly muscular 
3 T oung man, of the age of twenty-six years, and about five feet nine inches in height, a 
native of Liegist, and employed as a house servant there, said he had taken Hiittereich 
for about a year and a half,—not however, white arsenic, but the yellow arsenic, 
or orpiment, of which he took a specimen from his pocket and showed it to me. Of 
this I retained a piece for chemical investigation. He informed me that he took the 
arsenic in order to keep strong, though he had never suffered from ill-health. He said 
he had never experienced any bad effects even wdien he first began using it, that he had 
at first taken rather less than a grain every fortnight, that he now took it twdee a week, 
.and that on omitting to take it for any longer period he experienced a longing for it, 
which was relieved by a repetition of the usual dose. His reason for taking the 
orpiment instead of the white arsenic was, that it was more easily procured; but 
having professed himself quite indifferent whether it were arsenious acid or the 
sulphuret, Dr. Knappe produced a paper containing the former (of which I also kept a 
sample), and having asked him to choose out a piece such as he was in the habit of 
taking, it was weighed and found to be nearly five grains; we had no finer weight than 
one grain, but the piece of arsenic was much over four, though less than five. 
Dr. Knappe having carefully ground this to powder on a clean piece of paper, it was 
transferred to a small piece of plain white bread, about as large as a man’s thumb-nail, 
and this the doctor put into his mouth; Schober chewed it and swallowed it, and then 
swallowed another portioii of bread the same size immediately after. This was 
at 9.30 a.m. He stayed with us a few minutes, but he had to reurn to his work, 
promising however to come back in a short while. This he did at 11.30, two hours 
after, and made water in my presence to the amount of what I estimated at tw r enty- 
eight ounces, into a vessel previously carefully cleaned, and the urine was put into 
bottles thoroughly washed by myself. Unfortunately, in the hurry of my departure, 
in trying to pack these bottles into my hat-box, I broke one, and thus lost part of the 
urine. Since my arrival in this country I subjected the contents of the two remaining 
