Category: Weird News

FACTS ABOUT ARSENIC EATERS

On: By: Romeyn


“The eating of arsenic,” said a toxicologist, or student of poisons, “Is common In Styria. Tho Styrians say that arsenic makes one plump and comely, and gives one strength for great exertions, such as running or mountain-climbing.

“Styria, In Austria, gives the world vast quantities of arsenic; the manufacture of this drug is, indeed, the main Styrian industry. They who make arsenic eat it, as a rule; for they say that only the arsenic eater can withstand the arsenic fumes.

“These makers and eaters of the drug are comely. They have a blooming and clear color. They look much younger than they are.

“The foreman In a certain arsenic factory told me that In his boyhood, when he first came to that plant, he was advised to begin to eat arsenic lest his health suffer from the fumes. He did begin, and his first two or three small doses gave him a sharp pain, like a burn, in the stomach, and this pain was-followed by tremendous hunger and a violent, disagreeable excitement. But as his doses Increased In frequency and in size, their effect became pleasant. There was no longer pain or excitement; there was a ravenous appetite and a mood of joyous activity wherein the youth could do three men’s work.

“This chap, by the time he got to be thirty, was taking four grains of arsenic a day. He looked at thirty with his clear pink and white color, no more than twenty-three. He was robust as a blacksmith. But he said he would die at forty-five or so said all the Styrian arsenic caters died at that age.

“The drug Is a preservative, and in Styria, when graves are opened, bodies are found to be as fresh Fix or seven years after interment as on tho day they were lowered Into the earth.

“The arsenic eater like the opium eater, is a total abstainer. Alcohol In any form is abhorrent to him. If he tries to abandon the drug, his heart weakens, he has fainting fits, he takes to his bed.”

Earthlings are Lunatics

On: By: Romeyn


I was not long In Mars before l could see that the Martians have ‘the advantage over us In every way. To begin with, the wholesome maxim that you shouldn’t speak with your mouth full does not concern the Martians at all. While they are eating with their mouths they are talking with the second mouth that they have on their thumbs. A large, stout Martian kept up a running fire of questions at me while he was taking a long drink from a pewter pot, while I, of course, had to put my glass down before I could reply. My helplessness seemed to cause them a great deal of amusement. Continue reading “Earthlings are Lunatics” →

Another Lost Continent, 1893

On: By: Romeyn


ANOTHER LOST CONTINENT
The Theory of Antipodes Which Is Supposed to be Sunk In tho Antarctic Sea.

An interesting discussion has been going on of late concerning a supposed lost continent in the Antarctic sea. Mr. H. O. Forbes, to whom the theory of the former existence of this continent is due, proposes to call it Antipedea. Tie bases his belief in this ancient, and now sunken, land upon the existence of allied forms of wingless birds in the Mauritius and in the Chatham islands.

When geologists find upon distant islands forms of animals peculiar to continental lands, or to other far removed islands, they are sometimes driven to the conclusion that in former times a land connection must have existed between the continents and islands in question. But the idea, though new in this particular application, is not new in itself.

Two other supposed lost continents have become famous. The first is Atlantis, the story of which was known to Plato, a land of fertility, wealth and civilization, now lying, according to the legend, at the bottom of the Atlantic ocean.

The other lost continent is an invention, or a deduction, of modern science. It is called Lemuria, and is supposed to have existed in the Indian ocean. The islands of Mauritius, Madagascar, Bourbon, Rodriguez, and the Se3’chclles are believed to be remnants of this lost continent still projecting above the waters. According to some German savants, man himself probably originated in Lemuria instead of in Asia.

Antipodea, if it ever existed, was separated from Lemuria by almost half the circumference of the globe, and the Chatham islands are remnants of it. Across the great stretch of water between the Chatham islands and the Mauritius, it is argued, the flightless birds, whose bones are found in both places, could not have made their way. There are other peculiarities in the distribution of life in the southern hemisphere which, it is asserted by some, can only be accounted for on the supposition that such a continent as Antipodea once rose above tho Waters of the Antarctic sea.

(The Wichita Daily Eagle, November 18, 1893)