likely not , unless you ’re well over 100 years onetime . In the 1800s , arsenic began being marketed as a health supplement , even though it had been a known poison for thousands of years . So why were citizenry all of a sudden eating it on purpose ?
Styria , in the southeastward of Austria , is a nice place to go these days . In the 1800s , it was the residence of the arsenic - eater , and by many accounts , it was still a very decent place to go . adventurer and scientists who travel to the region mentioned that the inhabitants consumed “ ratsbane ” with their chocolate . The fashion was to take ever increasing amounts a few times a week until looseness localise in , then decrease the dose . gentleman’s gentleman and woman exact arsenic , sometimes in a dose large enough to kill a healthy human being , to elucidate their complexions and help them breathe more easily . scientist observed that it seemed to do them no harm , write , “ They are in the main strong and healthy mortal , brave , hard-bitten , and of warm sexual dispositions . ”
So that settle that .
Today , people are no longer impressed with the wellness benefit of arsenic , inside Austria or exterior of it . Not only does it cause cell death , but even depleted doses of it increase a person ’s hazard of Crab . Whenever natural arsenic has leak into the drinking H2O of community , genus Cancer rate have sky - rocket .
But there is some denotation that a people can build up a tolerance for arsenic . Certain townsfolk in the Argentinian Andes , for example , are built on basics full of arsenic . The communities there are old , and so is the chemical beneath them . archaeologist there have examined mummies from chiliad of days ago , which check high quantity of arsenic . Today , people there seem resistant to arsenic , suffering few ill - effects from drink water full of rat poison . A genetic study of the indigenous population showed that they have the AS3MT factor , which controls a chemical mechanism that allow them flush poisons out of their organisation quicker than most other people , minimise their exposure to the poison .
Whether the arsenic eaters had the same gene is tough to say . Even if they did , they pushed it past the limit many times . Scientists note that the universe of Styria suffered a remarkable amount of arsenic - related deaths .
Businesses soon decided to partake those arsenic - related deaths with the ease of the world . Arsenic was already in fashion in the 1800s . When pallid skin was all the rage , an external coating allow fair sex to constrict the capillaries in their brass , making them pale . The Styrians gave cosmetic company a prospect to encourage women to take arsenic internally as well . Ad copy was effusive in its praises .
“ But the Styrian tike - girl , stirred by an unconsciously raise attachment – confiding scarcely to herself her feeling , and taking counseling of her inherit wisdom only – really adds , by the economic consumption of hidri [ arsenic ] , to the natural graces of her satiate and round down flesh , paint with brighter hues her blush face and enticing lips , and imparts a newfangled and winning luster to her sparkling optic . ”
world took it as well . What else could they do , when scientists come back from Styria talking of the peasant ’ “ strong intimate dispositions ” ? This had an effect on more than just the complexions or personal health of the the great unwashed of the late 1800s . Poisoners utilise whatever is to hand , especially if they can get away with it . Anyone whose copious one-time uncle or inconvenient suitor drip dead had two alibi . The poisoner owned arsenic in their possession because they took it for their health , and their victim had arsenic in their system because they , too , take it for their wellness .
Arsenic health tonics did n’t last too long . People first heard of the arsenic feeder in the 1860s , and swallowing arsenic was out by the 1920s . The tie with poisonous substance was too close . As more and more poisoner were fascinate , these tonics got the bad mechanical press they deserved . And it in all probability help that as the humankind approached the Roaring Twenties , “ Austrian peasant girl ” was n’t the feeling anyone was going for anymore .
Top image : sfam_photo / Shutterstock .
[ ViaThe Arsenic Eaters , Genetic Immunity to Arsenic , The Arsenic Eaters of Styria , The Arsenic Eaters of Styria ]
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