Page:Chronicles of pharmacy (Volume 2).djvu/252

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

laid down, and it was quaintly added that if after the three days' treatment no benefit had resulted it was "a sign that the patient has either not been poisoned, or has been by such poison as Cæsar's antidote will not remedy."


Arsenic Eating.

About the middle of the 19th century some discussion took place in various popular and medical journals in reference to the alleged practice of eating arsenic in Styria and the neighbouring countries. Drs. Christison, Swaine Taylor, and Pereira were somewhat more than sceptical, but several doctors and others wrote confirming the statements from their personal knowledge. One of the most notable testimonies was contributed by Dr. Craig Maclagan of Edinburgh in the "Edinburgh Medical Journal" (1865). Dr. Maclagan had visited Styria and had introductions to several doctors in that country who had reported cases known to them. Two men were brought to Dr. Maclagan at the village of Liegist in Middle Styria, and in his presence took, one about 4-1/2 and the other 6 grains of white arsenic. Dr. Maclagan brought home some of the substance which the Styrian doctor had given to these men, and on testing it found it to be genuine white arsenic. He also brought back some samples of the urine voided by the men some time after eating the arsenic, and found in it distinct evidence of the presence of the poison. The arsenic was taken by the men on a piece of bread, and in one case was washed down with a draught of water. How extensive was the habit, Dr. Maclagan could not say. The peasants called it Hydrach or Huttereich; the correct word was said to