"All right, then," said the chemist; and, seeing argument was useless, he proceeded to mix an innocent but nauseous draught of aloes.
"Now put in a shilling's worth of arsenic."
"Very well," replied the chemist, adding some harmless magnesia.
"And you might as well throw in a shilling's worth of prussic acid," said the broken-hearted lover.
The chemist carefully measured a little essence of almonds into the glass, and handed it to the would-be suicide. He paid, swallowed it at one draught, and solemnly walked out of the shop.
Crossing the street, which was quiet at the time, he deliberately laid himself flat on his back on the footpath, and closed his eyes.
A group of children gathered round, and stood gazing with their eyes and mouths open in wonderment, and an occasional passer-by stopped a moment, cast a glance at the unwonted sight, and then passed on.
After lying thus quite motionless for about five minutes, he suddenly raised his head, took a look round, then with one bound jumped to his feet and made off as hard as he could run.
It is a curious fact that arsenic has been the favourite medium of female poisoners from very early times; and in two celebrated poisoning cases of later years, in both of which women were accused of murder by the administration of arsenic, the plea that the poison had been used by them for cosmetic purposes has been put forward to account for having it in their possession. The effect of arsenic on the skin is well known, and that it is frequently used, both internally and externally, to improve the skin, by women, is an undoubted fact.[3] That such a practice may lead to the taking of arsenic as a confirmed habit there is also evidence to prove, and the writer has met with more than one instance, in which the habit of taking solution of arsenic in large quantities has been contracted by women.
[3] The recent rage for the so-called arsenical soaps, which are supposed to improve the complexion and are being extensively used by women, goes to corroborate this statement.