Maryland independent. [volume] (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1874-current, 1912-03-15
ART OF POISONING
TOxicology Made a Record In the
Seventeenth Century.
SECRETS NOW HAPPILY LOST

Il Was In Trying to Hxdiseovsr Them
That saints- croix, the Aeeompliee Of
the Notorious Nine. de BrinviIliers
Met His Tragic Fate.
The basis Of most polsons IN the six
teenih and seventeenth centuries was
arsenic. 1t was extremely easy to pro
cure. the taste was easy to hide. and
until Marsh's test was discovered
about a hundred years ago its traces
were difficult to discover. In the sew
enteenih century toxicology reached
heights that It has never since attain
ed. The laboratories Of the poisoners
in France and Italy contained secrets
happlly lost today.
The preparation Of the potions used
during the reigns Of Louis XIII. and
XIV. may be briefly described. An
animal was doctortd with a dose Of
arsenic. After death The liquids OF the
body were carefully distilled. and the
resultant was Of extreme virulence.
being composed Of the virus OF ar
senic and The alkaloids Of decomposl.
tion. When the animal thus killed was
credited with a bodily venom the dis.
titled liquid was a concentration Of
three polsons instead Of two For this
reason the toad was the favorite sub
5ect Of experiment This was the poi
son used by Nine de Brlnvilliers.
Against it medical skin was almost
helpless.
The list of monarchs whose deaths
were attributed by popular gossip to
the effect Of poison is long one
Catherine de- Medici was a known pol
soner. surrounded BY poisoners. and
her two sons. Francis II. and Charles
TX. were probably buried to their
end by the administration OF drugs as
well as By their feeble state Of health.
There are some grounds for the as
sertion that Louis Kill died OF poi.
son. His mother. Marie de- Medicl.
was said to be the greatest polsoner
OF her age. The comment In Paris
was that the king was wen or III as
he agreed or quarreied with the queen
mother. The state ministers ran des
perate risks. Rlchelieu suffered from
many curious Illnesses. He knew his
danger aud took every precautlon.
Mazarin's death cannot wholly be ex-
planned BY natural causes. The death
of the sister OF Charles II. of Eng
land is also a matter of mystery.
The chief accompllce of Nine. de
Brinvliliers and perhaps actually the
instigator Of many Of her crimes was
Gandin de Sainte.cr than whom a
more sinister scoundrel does not cross
the pages of the century.
He was sent to the Bastille. liberated
and met his death before Nine de
Brlnvilliers herself was brought to
trial. The accounts Of his end are
conflicting and Illuminating. Accord
ing to one Of them, Sainte-Croix was
endeavoring to discover a poison the
emanations alone Of which would be
able to Kill. He had heard Of the poi
soned napkin with which the young
Dauphin. elder brother OF Charles VII.
had wiped bis face while playing at
tennis and the contact Of which alone
was sufficient to XIII. Then there was
the gossip about the gloves belonging
to Jeanne d'Albret. which had been
prepared by one Of the Italian poison
ers In the train Of Catherine de- Ne
dici. crime which was never brought
home to its lnstigators. The secrets
of these poisons had been lost. and
Sainte-Crolx wished to end them.
There came to pass one Of those
strange events which seem rather to
be punishment from heaven than an
accident At the moment when !
iSainte- croix. leaning over his stove.
watched bis fatal mixture reach its
highest state of intensity. the glass
mask which covered his face and pre- /
served bin from the mortal exhala-
tons which escaped from the liquor
became unfastened and dropped of.
Salnte-Croix fell to the ground as If
struck by a thunderboit. 4
After the death of sainte-Croix Nine
de Brinvilliers took flight and found a
refuge in London and afterward In the
Netherlands. Her arrest wns affected
by strafagem. aud she was brought
back 10 Paris to stand trial The
most damaging testimony against her
was that Of the tutor. Braincourt. who
bad been In measure her unwilling
accomplice. In one part Of his evidence
the episode must have suggested to
Dumas one scene between DArtagnan
and Lady de Winter described in The
Three Ausketeers7 Mime de Brinvf
liers was condemned and full con
fession Of her crimes was wrung from
her by the application Of the torture
Iof the water She remained seven
hours in the torture chamber and she
avowed all her crimes, but denied that
she had any aecomplices.
The trial. torture and execution Of
Nine. de Brinvilliers served as useful
lesson. Poison did not disappear, but
its practitioners were taught to curb
their malevolent enthusiasms. The
pursuits Of astrology and alchemy
jwaned for a time to reappear IN the
next century in the richest fruition in
1.-THE person Of that astonishing arch I'M
poster. cagliostro -isookman Review
OF Mime Brinyililers and Her Times
Europe's cineh.
Europe holds lot Of our stocks