New Ulm review., 1912-03-20
ART OF POISONING.

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ToxicoIogy Made a Record In the
Seventeenth Century.
SECRETS NOW HAPPILY LOST
/ Was In Trying to Rsdiseovsr Thsm
That saints. .croix, the AceompIies Of
the Notorious Nine. do erinvillisrs
Met His Tragic Fate.
The basis of most poisons in the six
teenth 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 hundred years ago its traces
were difficult to discover. In the sew
snteenth century toxicology reached
heights that 1t has never since attain.
ed. The laboratories of the poisoners
In France and Italy contained secrets
happily lost today.
The preparation Of the potions used
during the reigns Of Louis XIII. and
XIV. may be briefly described. An
animal was doctored with 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 decomposi.
don. When the animal thus killed was
credited with a bodily venom the dis
titled liquid was concentration of
three poisons instead of two. For this
reason the toad was the favorite sub.
ject of experiment. This was the poi
zson used by Nine. de Brinvilliers.
Against it medical skill was almost
helpless.
The list of monarchs whose deaths
were attributed by popular gossip to
the effect of poison is a long one.
Catherine de- Medici was known poi
soner, surrounded by prisoners, and
her two sons. Francis IL. and Charles
TX, were probably hurried to their
end by the administration of DIR ~ as
well as by their feeble state of heath.
There are some grounds for the as
sertion that Louis XIII. died Of pol
son. His mother. Marie de- Medici.
was said to be the greatest poisoner
Of her age. The comment In Paris
was that the king was well or III as
be agreed or quarreled with the queen
mother The state ministers ran des.
perate risks. Richelleu suffered from
many curious illnesses. He knew his
danger and took every precaution.
Mazarin's death cannot wholly be ex-
planned by natural causes. The death
Of the sister of Charles IL. of Eng
land is also a matter of mystery.
The chief accomplice of Nine. de
Brinvilliers and perhaps actually the
instigator Of many of her crimes was
Gaudin de Sainte-Croix than whom a
more sinister scoundfel does not cross
the pages Of the century.
He was sentto the Bastille. liberated
and met his death before Nine. de
Brinvilliers herself was brought to
trial. The accounts of his end are
and illuminating. Accord
ing to one of them. Sainte-Croix was
eDdeavoring to discover a poison the
enanations 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 his face while playing at
tennis and the contact of which alone
was sufficient to kill. 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- Me-
dici, crime which was never brought
home to its instigators. The secrets
of these poisons had been lost. and
Sainte- -Croix wished to find them.
There came to pass one of those
strange events which seem rather to
be a punishment from heaven than an
accident. At the moment when
-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 him from the mortal exhala-
lions which escaped from the liquor
became unfastened and dropped OF.
Sainte- Croix fell to the ground 40 It
struck by a thunderbolt.
After the death of Sainte- Croix Nine.
de Brinvilliers took dight and found a
refuge in London and afterward In the
Netherlands. Her arrest was affected
by stratagem. and she was brought
back to Paris to stand trial. The
most damaging testimony against her
was that of the tutor. Braincourt. who
had been in a measure her unwilling
accomplice. In one part of his evidence
the episode must have suggested to
Dumas one scene between D'Artagnan
and Lady de Winter described in '"The
Three Musketeers." Nine de Brinvil.
liers was condemned and full con-
fession of her crimes was wrung from