THE GROWTH AND EVILS OE ARSENIC EATING

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1682, 8 October 1887, Page 4

THE GROWTH AND EVILS OE ARSENIC EATING

: » The habit of araecfc eating, Bays the New York." Evening Post," is beooming tnoro and more common among the young 1 women f that city, and the physicians say , thit nothing too harsh can be uttered agalust this miserable practice. Arsenic preparations of all kinds are advertised, and various preparations of this deadly drug are daily soldiVr the alleged purpose of beautifying the complexion They who use lt are daily laying the foundation of a disease that will one day destroy some of their most vital organs. Toe actual object to be gained by arsenic eating is that clear, white, almost transparent skin whioh tbey do so much admire, aud which may mean an early death. Again, the reiulta obtained by the use of arsenio •how very plainly the hurtful nature of It. The exact state of affairs brought about by arsenio eating is a diminution of tbe Strength of (he blood ; the capillary bloodvessels are stopped fron working ; the ends of the bloodvessels are killed ; no blood is supplied to the ekin, and the real reason for the white, transparent rature of the skin is that it is practically dead, If the result of arsenic eating is the highly transparent state of the skin, and if this can only result from tbe killing of bloodvessels, the claim that there is no harm m the habit becomes an absurdity. Physicians throughout New York are up m arms against the use of the drug One prominent doctor said :— " I hope something will be done, and done soon, to stop this abominab'e traffic If the destruction of the bloodvessels was the only thing the arsenic eater succeeded m doing, it would be bad enough ; but that is not all. The araenic has a bad effect upon the k ; dneyß, and is likely to bring on a disease which will end only m death. It haa also a bad effect on the digestive organs, and soon destroys their action ; the liver, too, is diseased by the poison, and tbe nerves become affected] to such an extent that their control becomes impossible. It acts upon the system m such a way that the victim of the habit becomes lost to all sense of morality, .he practice of arsenic eating is a vicious one that ought to be . stopped immediately before any more harm is done."