The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1912-05-02
Art OF POISONING.
Toxico|ogy Made a Record In the
!, Seventeenth Century.

Z seventeenth century.
SECRETS NOW HAPPILY LOST
It Was In Trying to Rediscover Thorn
That Sainte- Crox, the Accomplish Of
the Notorious Nine. de Brinvi!liers
! 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 a hundred years ago it's traces
were difficult to discover. In the sew
enteenth century toxicology reached
heights that it has never since attain
ed. The laboratories of the prisoners
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
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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-
ton. When the animal thus killed was
credited with bodily venom the dis
titled liquid was concentration of
three poisons instead of two. For this
reason the toad was the favorite sub
tect Of experiment. This was the poi
son 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 a known poi
soner, surrounded by prisoners, and
her two sons. Francis II. and Charles
*, were probably hurried to their
end by the administration of drugs as
we'll as by their feeble state of health.
There are some grounds for the as
sertion that Louis XIII. died of poi
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 we'll or i'll as
he agreed or quarreled with the queen
mother. The state ministers ran des-
perate risks. Richelieu 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 II. of Eng
land is also 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 scoundrel does not cross
the pages of the century.
He was sent to the Bastille, liberated
and met his death before Nine. de
Brinvilliers 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 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
ainte-Croix, leaning over his stove.
watched his fatal mixture reach it's
highest state of intensity. the glass
mask which covered his face and pre-
served him from the mortal exhala-
tons which escaped from the liquor
became unfastened and dropped off.
Sa1nte-Croix fell to the ground as if
struck by a thunderbolt.
After the death of Sainte- Croix Nine.
de Brinvilliers took fight 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
accomplish. 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 a full con-
fession Of her crimes was wrung from
her by the application of the torture
OF the water. She remained seven
hours in the torture chamber and she
aVowed all her crimes, but denied that
she had any accomplices.
The trial, torture and execution of
Nine. de Brinvilliers served as a useful
lesson. Poison did not disappear, but
1oro