ON  THE  ARSENIC  EATERS  OF  STYRIA. 
437 
quainted,  he  says  the  only  men  who  can  stand  the  work  for  any 
time  are  those  who  swallow  daily  doses  of  arsenic,  the  fumes, 
&c,  soon  killing  the  others.  The  director  of  these  works,  the 
gentleman  before  alluded  to,  sent  me  the  following  particulars 
of  his  own  case.  (This  gentleman's  name  I  suppress,  as  he 
writes  that  he  does  not  wish  the  only  thing  known  about  him  in 
England  to  be  the  fact  that  he  is  an  arsenic  eater ;  but  if  any 
judicial  inquiry  should  arise  which  might  render  positive  evidence 
of  arsenic  eating  necessary,  his  name  and  testimony  will  be 
forthcoming.) 
"  At  seventeen  years  of  age,  while  studying  assaying,  I  had 
much  to  do  with  arsenic,  and  was  advised  by  my  teacher,  M. 
Bonsch,  Professor  of  Chemistry  and  Mineralogy  at  Eisleben,  to 
begin  the  habit  of  arsenic  eating.  I  quote  the  precise  words  he 
addressed  to  me.  <  If  you  wish  to  continue  the  study  of  assay- 
ing, and  become  hereafter  superintendent  of  a  factory,  more 
especially  of  an  arsenic  factory,  in  which  position  there  are  so 
few,  and  which  is  abandoned  by  so  many,  and  to  preserve  your- 
self from  the  fumes  which  injure  the  lungs  of  most,  if  not  of  all, 
and  to  continue  to  enjoy  your  customary  health  and  spirits,  and 
to  attain  a  tolerably  advanced  age,  I  advise  you,  nay,  it  is  ab- 
solutely necessary,  that  besides  strictly  abstaining  from  spiritu- 
ous liquors,  you  should  learn  to  take  arsenic ;  but  do  not  forget 
when  you  have  attained  the  age  of  fifty  years  gradually  to  de- 
crease your  dose,  till  from  the  dose  to  which  you  have  become 
accustomed,  you  return  to  that  with  which  you  began,  or  even 
less.'  I  have  made  trial  of  my  preceptor's  prescriptions  till 
now,  the  forty-fifth  year  of  my  age.  The  do?e  with  which  I 
began,  and  that  which  I  take  at  present,  I  enclose  ;  they  are 
taken  once  a  day,  early,  in  any  warm  liquid,  such  as  coffee,  but 
not  in  any  spirituous  liquors."  The  doses  sent  were  No.  1, 
original  dose,  three  grains;  No.  2,  present  dose,  twenty- three 
grains  of  pure  white  arsenic  in  coarse  powder.  Dr.  Arbele 
says  this  gentleman's  daily  dose  has  been  weighed  there  also, 
and  found  as  above.    Mr.   continues: — "About  an  hour 
after  taking  my  first  dose  (I  took  the  same  quantity  daily  for 
three  months),  there  followed  slight  perspiration  with  griping 
pains  in  the  bowels,  and  after  three  or  four  hours  a  loose  evacu- 
ation ;  this  was  followed  by  a  keen  appetite,  and  a  feeling  of 
