ON  THE  ARSENIC  EATERS  OF  STYRIA. 
439 
fresh  I  am,  and  what  an  advantage  I  have  over  you  all  !  In 
times  of  epidemic  fever  or  cholera,  what  a  fright  you  are  in, 
while  I  feel  sure  of  never  taking  infection." 
Dr.  Arbele  writes,  "  Mr.  Curator  Kiirsinger  (I  presume  cu- 
rator of  some  museum  at  Salzburg),  notwithstanding  his  long 
professional  work  in  Lungau  and  Binzgau,  knew  only  two  arsenic 
eaters — one  the  gentlemen  whose  case  has  just  been  related,  the 
other  the  ranger  of  the  hunting  district  in  Grossarl,  named  Trau- 
ner.  This  man  was  at  the  advanced  age  of  81,  still  a  keen  cha- 
mois hunter,  and  an  active  climber  of  mountains  ;  he  met  his 
death  by  a  fall  from  a  mountain  height,  while  engaged  in  his 
occupation.  Mr.  Kiirsinger  says  he  always  seemed  very  healthy, 
and  every  evening  regularly,  after  remaining  a  little  too  long  over 
his  glass,  he  took  a  dose  of  arsenic,  which  enabled  him  to  get  up 
the  next  morning  perfectly  sober  and  quite  bright.  Professor 
Fenzl,  of  Vienna,  was  acquainted  with  this  man,  and  made  a 
statement  before  some  learned  society  concerning  him,  a  notice 
of  which  Mr.  Kiirsinger  saw  in  the  Wiener  Zeitung  ;  but  I  have 
not  been  able  to  find  the  statement  itself.  Mr.  Krum,  the  pharm- 
aceutist here,  tells  me  that  there  is  in  Salzburg  a  well-known 
arsenic  eater,  Mr.  Schmid,  who  now  takes  daily  twelve  and  some- 
times fifteen  grains  of  arsenic.  He  began  taking  arsenic  from 
euriosity,  and  appears  very  healthy,  but  always  becomes  sickly 
and  falls  away  if  he  attempts  to  leave  it  oif.  The  director  of 
the  arsenic  factory  before  alluded  to  is  also  said  to  be  very 
healthy,  and  not  to  look  so  old  as  45,  which  he  really  is.* 
As  a  proof  how  much  secrecy  is  observed  by  those  who  prac- 
tice arsenic  eating,  I  may  mention  that  Dr.  Arbele  says  he  in- 
quired of  four  medical  men,  well  acquainted  with  the  people  of 
the  districts  in  question,  both  in  the  towns  ancl  country,  and 
they  could  not  tell  him  of  any  individual  case,  but  knew  of  the 
custom  only  by  report. 
Two  criminal  cases  have  been  mentioned  to  me,  in  which  the 
known  habit  of  arsenic  eating  was  successfully  pleaded  in  favor 
of  the  accused.    The  first  by  Dr.  Kottowitz,  of  Neuhaus,  was 
*The  man  above  mentioned  seems  quite  to  differ  with  Mr.  on  the 
impropriety  of  taking  arsenic  with  spirituous  liquors,  and  actually  employs 
it  as  a  means  of  correcting  their  effects, .  All  others  that  I  have  heard  of. 
concur  in  saying  that  it  should  be  taken  fasting, 
