Arsenic eater

Arsenic eaters were people who regularly consumed small amounts of arsenic . Its use was particularly common in the 19th century in Styria and Tyrol , where arsenic is known under the name Hidrach or Hittrach , which is a dialect for smelter smoke , and was a by-product in glass production. This term can be traced back to the Middle Ages , when arsenic was already in use as a stimulant . Arsenic eaters, known there as dippers , are also known from the southern states of the USA . It was consumed by putting a piece in your mouth and sucking it like rock candy or by sprinkling finely ground arsenic on bacon or bread. In Austria, the use is said to have been widespread until the Second World War.

effect

In very small doses of around 2 mg, the ingestion of arsenic creates a feeling of warmth in the stomach. The cause of this is the local irritation of the gastric mucosa, as can also be observed when drinking alcohol . In this dosage, arsenic increases appetite and general well-being. As a result of the increased appetite, arsenic eaters gain weight - a fact that fraudulent horse dealers used to use to give lean, emaciated horses a healthy, fiery appearance with small doses of arsenic. It made the hair especially smooth and shiny. Ernst von Bibra writes in his book Die narcotischen Genussmittel und der Mensch , published in 1855 , that horses in Vienna were regularly given arsenic, either mixed with the feed or by tying a cloth bag with the substance to the bit of the bridle. Horses that had to transport loads through the mountains were also given arsenic.

In addition to the performance-enhancing effect, the intake also seems to have played a role for cosmetic reasons. Bibra reports that arsenic was also used for a healthy appearance. The weight gain associated with ingestion probably corresponded to the beauty ideal of the 19th century - an effect that women in Austria also took advantage of and allegedly ate arsenic tartlets for this purpose until the first half of the 20th century. This cosmetic use seems to have been the exception. In fact, it was more mountain farmers and forest workers who consumed arsenic as a kind of tonic to improve performance.

Getting used to

Like nitrous oxide , lithium , bromine compounds or xenon, arsenic is one of the inorganic psychoactive substances . It is noteworthy that the arsenic eaters get used to the substance. While normally as little as 0.1 g of arsenic ingested orally can be fatal, arsenic eaters used to it can tolerate three to four times this amount without serious symptoms of intoxication. Even if the exact mechanism is not yet fully understood, it is not a real tolerance to arsenic. On the contrary, the absorption via the stomach and intestines seems to be greatly reduced. Even with arsenic eaters, severe symptoms of poisoning have been observed when a fraction of the orally tolerable amount was administered by syringe .

Getting used to orally ingested arsenic may be one reason why the custom of eating arsenic emerged in the first place. The substance was already a popular murder poison in ancient times. In order to be at least somewhat armed against poisonous murders, people back then protected themselves by slowly getting used to the various poisons. Is known z. B. the anecdote of Mithridates VI. who had so immunized himself against poisons that the poison suicide did not succeed after his defeat against Pompey and he let himself be stabbed. Presumably, it was through the slow dose increase in such immunization experiments that the stimulating effect of arsenic was discovered for the first time.

The sudden withdrawal of arsenic leads to significant withdrawal symptoms, which are expressed in fatigue, exhaustion and difficulty concentrating.

See also

• Mithridation

Literature and Sources

• Richard M. Allesch: Arsenik - its history in Austria . Archive for patriotic history and topography. Vol. 54. 1959, Klagenfurt: Kleinmayr. 302
• Ernst von Bibra : The narcotic luxury foods and the human being . Verlag von Wilhelm Schmid, 1855 ( full text in the Google book search).
• Ludwig v. Hörmann: Pleasure and stimulants in the Eastern Alps - a folklore sketch . Z. German-Austrian Alpenver., 1912. 43: p. 78-100.
• Wolfgang Schmidbauer , Jürgen vom Scheidt : Handbook of intoxicating drugs . Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 2004, ISBN 3-596-16277-7
• Simon Brugner, Rob van Hoesel (eds.): The arsenic eaters . Photo tape. Breda: The Eriskay Connection, 2018 ISBN 9789492051356
• Helmut Schubothe: Arsenic poisoning. In: Ludwig Heilmeyer (ed.): Textbook of internal medicine. Springer-Verlag, Berlin / Göttingen / Heidelberg 1955; 2nd edition ibid. 1961, pp. 1203–1205, especially p. 1203 with note 1.