ulty of breathing. For
all these symptoms there is but one remedy--a return to the enjoyment of
arsenic.

According to inquiries made on the subject, it would seem that the habit
of eating poison among the inhabitants of Lower Austria has not grown into
a passion, as is the case with the opium-eaters in the East, the chewers
of the betel nut in India and Polynesia, and of the coco-leaves among the
natives of Peru. When once commenced, however, it becomes a necessity.

In some districts sublimate of quicksilver is used in the same way. One
case in particular is mentioned by Dr. von Tschudi, a case authenticated
by the English embassador at Constantinople, of a great opium-eater at
Brussa, who daily consumed the enormous quantity of forty grains of
corrosive sublimate with his opium. In the mountainous parts of Peru the
doctor met very frequently with eaters of corrosive sublimate; and in
Bolivia the practice is still more frequent, where this poison is openly
sold in the market to the Indians.

In Vienna the use of arsenic is of every-day occurrence among
horse-dealers, and especially with the coachmen of the nobility. They
either shake it in a pulverized state among the corn, or they tie a bit
the size of a pea in a piece of linen, which they fasten to the curb when
the horse is harnessed, and the saliva of the animal soon dissolves it.
The sleek, round, shining appearance of the carriage-horses, and
especially the much-admired foaming at the mouth, is the result of this
arsenic-feeding.(4) It is a common practice with the farm-servants in the
mountainous parts to strew a pinch of arsenic on the last feed of hay
before going up a steep road. This is done for years without the least
unfavorable result; but should the horse fall into the hands of another
owner who withholds the arsenic, he loses flesh immediately, is no longer
lively, and even with the best feeding there is no possibility of
restoring him to his former sleek appearance.

The above particulars, communicated by a contributor residing in Germany,
are curious only inasmuch as they refer to poisons of a peculiarly quick
and deadly nature. Our ordinary "indulgences" in this country are the same
in kind, though not in degree, for we are all poison-eaters. To say
nothing of our opium and alcohol consumers, our teetotallers are delighted
with the briskness and sparkle of spring-water, although these qualities
indicate the presence of carbonic acid or fixed air.