"One of the methods that the accused could defend themselves even if arsenic were detected in the body, was by using the so-called Styrian Defence. Now Styria is a region, a mountainous region, of Southern Austria. And this is back in Victorian times, or more correctly speaking, Franz Josephian times. It was found that the peasants in Styria had the habit of eating arsenic or eating arsenic trioxide, and they were eating large doses every few days. They might be eating 300 to 400 mg, whereas the lethal dose is about half that. And some of them could eat almost a gram, and this was actually done. Some of these peasants were taken to a medical congress in Vienna and ate arsenic in front of an audience of medical doctors. So, there are two questions. How did they do it? How could they eat this much arsenic trioxide without dropping dead? And there were various theories. One theory is that the solid arsenic trioxide only released into the body very, very slowly so it never built up to a high concentration. The other possibility is that because these peasants had been eating arsenic for a long time, starting maybe at low doses going to higher doses, they had built up a tolerance that other people didn’t have. Then there’s a question of, why did they do it. Well, apparently they said they did it to improve their health. And the women also said they did it because they wanted to improve their complexion. Now, one of the effects of arsenic on the human body is that it damages blood vessels. In fact, this damaging of blood vessels is the reason that arsenic trioxide has anti-cancer activities. Now if you damage the blood vessels in your face, in your cheeks, then your cheeks will become more red coloured and back in the 19th century, having a nice red coloured, rosy cheeks, like that was considered to be very attractive." - Lopo