Nehaveigur

In an essay first published in 1877 in Waldheimat, Austrian writer Peter Rosegger describes his encounter with peasants in Styria using arsenic as an anti-aging drug. This is a translation by Copilot, with some editing for readability:

On one of the trips I took as I student, I stopped at a farmer’s place in Gradenbach. An acquaintance of mine was working there, a young farmhand with whom I had gone to school.

He invited me to stay in his horse stable for the night. I had rarely seen such lively and well-groomed horses as my sleeping companions there, and I shared this with the Urban, the farmhand, as we sat next to each other in the stable smoking tobacco.

“My horses?” he replied, “and what do you think I do to make the horses so lively and clean? I’ll tell you: I feed them smelter smoke.”

“Arsenic!” I replied, “you’re doing that too?”

“That’s right! And I’m glad we’re talking about it since you are educated and will understand.”

“I don’t understand anything about horses.”

“I believe you that you that don’t understand anything about horses,” he said with some self-satisfaction, “you have to be involved from a young age; it’s not like with oxen or sheep! A farmhand must have his wits about him, yes, I believe that! – What do you think,” the young farmhand continued, “what breed my chestnut there is?”

“Such a lively animal! Could be Spanish thoroughbred,” I replied.

“He’s a common Ennstaler horse,” he informed me, “and how old do you think he is?”

“Could be ten years old.”

“Dear fellow!” said the farmhand, “the chestnut there has been alive for twenty-one years. – That’s because he gets smelter smoke.”

I silently took this in, for I knew that in some regions, horses that are to become very sleek and fiery are fed powdered arsenic. My acquaintance, however, blew on his pipe so that his fresh face was illuminated rosy red, then he continued cautiously: “They say for people smelter smoke is also healthy.”

“That’s for sure! Someone who eats arsenic needs no more medicine.”

“Not like that,” the farmhand replied, “that’s not what I mean. Someone who eats a hazelnut-sized piece, well, I believe they won’t have a toothache anymore. On the other hand, a pinhead-sized grain, they say, shouldn’t be bad, should make one lively and spry, even people, and that one will stay young for a long time. – What do you say to that, student boy?”

“What do you want, Urban?” I asked, “you are fine the way you are.”

“I want to become strong,” he said, “smelter smoke is supposed to improve one’s skills for mountain climbing.”

“What mountain climbing do you have to do with your cart on flat roads?”

“Good strength is always helpful,” was his reply.

“That’s true, good strength, that’s true.”

“And courage.”

“Also courage for brawling in the tavern.”

“And youth, lots of youth,” said Urban.

“Is it because of the women?” I asked.

“I don’t deny it!” he replied and blew on his pipe.

I didn’t advise him to. But he listed examples of farmhands and miners and blacksmiths who had been eating arsenic for years and were doing very well. Then he lit the stable lantern and fetched a paper bag containing white pieces.

“Here’s the sugar,” he said.

“Yes, that’s enough to send all the people of Gradenbach to heaven.”

“I don’t want to harm them,” said Urban, “but I’ll try it. I’ll try it. If I die, bury me.”

He took a grain between his fingers, put it in his mouth, bit it, swallowed it, and clicked his tongue.

“How does it taste?” was my question.

“Not bad. Like an old sheep cheese rind.”

“Maybe it is one!” I remarked.

“It’s just for tasting,” he said and held the bag out to me. I didn’t go for it; I noticed from a few characteristics that it was arsenic.

“I don’t feel bad at all,” said Urban, standing up firmly in front of me, spreading his legs, his sinewy arms – he was in shirt sleeves – on his hips, “rather, it’s like I’ve drunk a measure of wine. Tomorrow I’ll take another grain; I’m already looking forward to it. – But you mustn’t tell anyone, old comrade, otherwise, the hunter Thomas won’t give me any more sugar.”

“You got it from a hunter? And what does he need it for?”

“For casting shot, he says, to make the bullets round. But now I’d bet that Thomas also nibbles on it.”

Since this conversation, I have become a settled man; he runs a horse ranch in Prötz and has remained a young fellow, looking like life itself. We talked about the matter again.

Whether he still nibbles sugar?

“Nibbles? No,” he replied, “but I eat it.”

This man eats a pea-sized piece of arsenic daily.

“I wouldn’t recommend it to everyone! A waitress died from it. Because women age earlier than men, you know, so she thought she’d take more smelter smoke. It was too much. I still feel sorry for her.”

I have found arsenic eaters in the area, in Judenburg and Köflach and Voitschberg. In the Sulm valley, it is said to be particularly popular, and people swear by it, saying it makes them strong and spry, maintains youthful appearance and sparkling eyes.

The farmhand asks the fiancée if she eats smelter smoke; she always denies it because she knows well that such artificial refreshing of her charms would not increase her value.

Thus, the enjoyment of “smelter smoke” is always kept secret and is often declared a vice. Therefore, someone suspected of this vice does not enjoy great honor in the village.

Some farmer’s girls also try the poison to kill a sin before it becomes loud and alive; an endeavor that is all too effective and has often quickly and painfully ended the life of the eater herself.

In Pölßgraben, years ago, a blacksmith tried to smoke arsenic in pipes like tobacco. He went mad and soon died. Often, the poison is mixed with wine or beer, but always just a tiny grain. However, for those who do not find the consumption of arsenic dangerous, cessation can be deadly. Once someone has started eating arsenic, they must – it is said – not stop, for as soon as the nature accustomed to the remedy must do without it, it begins to wither, to sink, and there is no rescue.

Thus, it is said that jealous girls know how to administer arsenic to their beloved daily. Some are capable of the deed without the lover noticing. If the fellow stays with her, the poison comes in handy; but if he leaves her and takes up with another, he lacks the elixir, withers away, and dies. So goes the belief.

A similar story is told in Palten valley. There, years ago, an ugly woodcutter is said to have bound a young girl to him in such a way that he gave her something like arsenic and then threatened to stop the poison. She could not get arsenic and, believing she would die from the sudden deprivation, fell prey to the wretch.

Later, when he was tired of her, he confessed that it was not arsenic he had given her, but sulfur.

At the naturalists’ meeting in Graz in 1875, the matter of eating arsenic in Styria was discussed. A few notorious arsenic eaters from the area of Stainz and Liegist were brought in, interrogated, and examined, and it was recorded that they had not suffered any harm to their health from the consumption of the poison. On the contrary, they looked quite lively. As the reason for consuming arsenic, they stated that they indulged in it to prevent infection and digestive troubles. The other reason, to become or remain vigorous in one’s love life through arsenic eating, is usually kept secret.

In any case, a very strong nature is required to tolerate this remedy, and it is certain that the naturalists were quite astonished when the two countrymen consumed the sharp poison with pleasure before their eyes.

Arsenic is bought by farmers under the pretext of needing it to exterminate rats. Nevertheless, it is not easy to obtain the poison; it is often mediated by peddlers. Most poison murders in the countryside are committed with arsenic.

An arsenic eater is said to be recognizable by the sharp and sometimes glassy shine of the eyes. He is also said to stand out due to a nervous alertness and sensual irritability. Even in his older days, one is said to notice a certain youthfulness in the arsenic eater, which, however, almost suddenly stops and turns into rapid decrepitude.

Medicines are said not to affect a poison eater at all, and so some have gone too far by finally taking so much of their spice that it was all over at once.

In the end, the matter of arsenic eating is nothing more than a remnant of the medieval health elixir of the devil. “One drank it, became young, and after some time was taken by the devil.”