The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1899-01-04
THE GENTLE ART OF POISONING.
II became N Positive Mania In the
Seventeenth Century.

~ necutHe IOHittte MonI0 In tne
Seventeenth Century.
The art of poisoning, II we are To be-
lieye an emlnont Authority. must be reck-
oped among the lost arts. It's noe because
we are less coarse than our ancestors, and
carry our roflnement oven into our crimes
We are less unsorupulous or cruel than
our forefathors were. Though the toxicol-
ogy OF the ancients was necessarily incom-
plete, there Is every reason TO believe that
ntiquity was acquainted with the use of
arsenic, opium, henbane and prussic acid.
Tho oldest poison In uss was probably an
importation Of serpent venom. Thoophras-
tus speaks OF poison made from aconite,
with rapid or slow effects in accordance
with the operators wishes. During the
empire, tho removal If incony enient peo-
pie by means of poison had become 40
common that the emperors had number
Of mon In their service whose duty it was
TO tasto all dishes put upon the imperial
table, and no dinner was partakon Of
without one of the court physicians being
present.
One Of tho most notorious poisoners OF
the day was Locusta, the murderess Of
Claudius and Britsnnious. About the
year 33l B. q. large numbers OF women
belonging TO the higher GLASSES Of Roman
society were indicted for poisoning their
husbands Ia modern instance OF the epi-
demic occurred Of late years In Hungary.
One hundred and seventy were convicted
and condemned The sixteenth and sev-
enteenth centuries were the halcyon days
OF poisoning. There Is no doubt that La
Spara and the II possible still more
wrotched hag La Toffana were as bad as
you mako them. The latter is said to
have caused the death Of over GOO persons
She used preparation Of arsenic which
she sold under the name of "acqua Tof-
fana." IL was slow poison, the victim
growing daily weaker and gradually dying
from physical exhaustion. In France the
most notorious female poisoners were
Nine. de Brinvilliers who was taught the
secret OF the succession powder" by
Sainte Croix, which she successfully ad.
ministered TO her father and brothers, and
the still more notorious Lavoisin and Lavi-
goreux. who, being ostensibly midwiyes,
carried their poisons to high and low
married couples anxious to hasten the dis
solution OF tho irksome tie, or needy heirs
wishful TO accelerate the departure of rich
relatives. A veritable mania for poisoning
appears to have set in toward the middle
Of the seventeenth century.
In England poisoning was declared by
an act passed In the reign of Henry VIII
to be high treason, and those guilty OF it
were to bs boiled alive. The most notori-
Gus case (the poisoning OF James / by
Buckingham Is only a surmise) Of poison
ing was that of Sir Thomas Overbury, In
the year 1913. He had incurred the dis
pleasure of Lord Rochester and his wife,
and they had both vowed to be revenged
on him. So after they had got him COM
mitted to the Tower they set themselves
to poison his food by mixing arsenic and
oantharides with it. For many months,
though suffering intensely, he appears TO
have fingered on. At last stronger dose
than usual put an end to his miserable
existence. The guilty couple, to the
kings everlasting disgrace, were released
after five years imprisonment.-Chu
Gazette