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diff --git a/43840-0.txt b/43840-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d0c9cb5 --- /dev/null +++ b/43840-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4681 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 43840 *** + +Transcriber's Note. + +Variable spelling has been retained. Minor punctuation inconsistencies +have been silently repaired. A list of other changes made can be found +at the end of the book. Original text is printed in a two-column +layout. Formatting and special characters are indicated as follows: + + _italic_ + =bold= + +underlined+ + + + + + IN THE NECESSARY TOIL + + AND + + SUFFERING OF THIS LIFE + + _MAN CAN INVENT NOTHING NOBLER THAN HUMANITY!_ + +THEN WHAT HIGHER AIM CAN MAN ATTAIN THAN CONQUEST OVER HUMAN PAIN? + + +[Illustration: THE LINE OF LIFE. ENO'S FRUIT SALT.] + +ENO'S 'FRUIT SALT' prevents unnecessary suffering and removes disease +only by natural laws. + +READ the 20-page pamphlet given with each bottle! + +ENO'S 'FRUIT SALT' rectifies the Stomach, and makes the Liver laugh +with joy by natural means (Or, in other words, Gentleness does more +than Violence.) + +Its universal success proves the truth of the above assertion. + + +_MORAL FOR ALL_-- + + "I need not be missed if another succeed me; + To reap down those fields which in spring I have sown. + He who ploughed and who sowed is not missed by the reaper, + He is only remembered by what he has done." + +The effect of Eno's 'Fruit Salt' upon any Disordered and Feverish +Condition is Simply Marvellous. It is, in fact, Nature's Own Remedy, +and is an Unsurpassed One. + + CAUTION.--_Examine the Capsule, and see that it is marked + ENO'S 'FRUIT SALT,' otherwise you have the sincerest form of + flattery--IMITATION._ + +Prepared only by J. C. ENO, Ltd., 'FRUIT SALT' WORKS, LONDON, S.E., by +J. C. ENO'S Patent. + + + + +POISON ROMANCE AND POISON MYSTERIES + + + + +POISON ROMANCE AND POISON MYSTERIES + +BY + +C. J. S. THOMPSON. + + + =St. James' Gazette=:--"There is indeed no more fascinating reading + ... very pleasant and readable.... It is full of good reading, + with some rather creepy and _saugrenu_ dippings into the past." + + =Daily Chronicle=:--"Poison is always a fascinating subject. There + is something subtle and mystic about the very word. On this + attractive theme Mr. THOMPSON has collected a great deal of + information from ancient and modern alike." + + =Daily Mail=:--"People who are fond of prying into the gruesome + subject of toxicology will find some interesting chapters in Mr. + C. J. S. THOMPSON'S book." + + =The Athenæum=:--"Decidedly sensible and well informed." + + =Literature=:--"Mr. THOMPSON writes a sprightly chapter on + toxicology in fiction." + + =The Saturday Review=:--"A great deal of curious information + concerning the history of poisons and poisonings." + + =Illustrated London News=:--"The story portions will attract most + attention, and the poisoned gloves and rings of old romance + supply satisfaction to that sensational instinct which is absent + in hardly one of us." + + =The Queen=:--"Will fascinate most people. Is very readably + written. Its only fault is that it is too short." + + =Liverpool Courier=:--"It is a readable book as well as an able + one. The author is an eminent toxicologist and writes pleasantly + on the lore connected with the science." + + =The Scotsman=:--"It is successful and interesting. Full of odd and + startling information." + + =Manchester Courier=:--"The book is extremely interesting and + particularly valuable." + + =Aberdeen Free Press=:--"Fascinates the majority of his readers. + One could wish that Mr. THOMPSON had written much more." + + =Glasgow Citizen=:--"A book of the week." + + =Glasgow Herald=:--"Light and eminently readable." + ++An edition of this book in cloth boards, price 2_s._ 6_d._, is +published by The Scientific Press Ltd., 28 & 29, Southampton Street, +Strand, London, W.C.+ + + + + +POISON ROMANCE AND POISON MYSTERIES + +BY + +C. J. S. THOMPSON, F.R.HIST.S. + +AUTHOR OF "THE MYSTERY AND ROMANCE OF ALCHEMY AND PHARMACY" "THE +CHEMIST'S COMPENDIUM" "A MANUAL OF PERSONAL HYGIENE" "PHARMACY AND +DISPENSING" ETC. ETC. + +[Illustration] + + LONDON + + GEORGE ROUTLEDGE & SONS, LTD + BROADWAY HOUSE, LUDGATE HILL, E.C. + 1904 + + + + +ROUTLEDGE'S CAXTON LIBRARY + +OF + +Fiction and Standard Works + +_Medium 8vo. Price_ =6d.= _each_. + +OVER 300 VOLUMES. + +_Write to Messrs. Routledge for a complete list of the Series._ + + + + +PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION + +IN response to the wishes of many who read this work when it appeared +in serial form, it is now reproduced with much additional matter, +which I hope may prove of value to those interested in the fascinating +subject of poisons and the study of toxicology. It has been my +endeavour to collect, in the following pages, the scattered fragments +of historic and romantic lore connected with poisons from the earliest +period, and to recount the stories of some notable "poison mysteries" +of ancient and modern times. I am indebted to the works of Dr. Wynter +Blyth for many facts concerning the poisons of antiquity. + + C. J. S. T. + + 1899 + + +PREFACE TO NEW EDITION + +IN presenting a new edition of this work to my readers, the opportunity +has been taken to introduce several new chapters, one of which deals +with the "poison mystery" which recently aroused such widespread +interest in the United States. In response to suggestions, detailed +accounts of the "Horsford case" and the "Lambeth poison mysteries" have +also been added. + + C. J. S. T. + + + + +CONTENTS + + + CHAP. PAGE + + I POISONS OF ANTIQUITY 11 + + II POISONS AND SUPERSTITION 21 + + III ROYAL AND HISTORIC POISONERS 26 + + IV PROFESSIONAL POISONERS 34 + + V POISONING PLOTS 43 + + VI CONCERNING ARSENIC 45 + + VII THE STRANGE CASE OF MADAME LAFARGE 49 + + VIII THE CASE OF MADELINE SMITH 53 + + IX THE MAYBRICK CASE 55 + + X ABOUT ACONITE AND HEMLOCK 60 + + XI THE CASE OF DR. LAMSON 63 + + XII THE BRAVO MYSTERY 65 + + XIII THE CASE OF DR. PRITCHARD 70 + + XIV THE PIMLICO MYSTERY 75 + + XV THE RUGELEY MYSTERY 80 + + XVI OPIUM EATING AND SMOKING--MESCAL BUTTONS 85 + + XVII HASHISH AND HASHISH EATERS 90 + + XVIII TOBACCO LORE 95 + + XIX POISON HABITS 99 + + XX POISONS IN FICTION 103 + + XXI THE LAMBETH POISON MYSTERIES 110 + + XXII THE HORSFORD CASE 114 + + XXIII THE GREAT AMERICAN POISON MYSTERY 117 + + XXIV SOME CURIOUS METHODS EMPLOYED BY SECRET POISONERS 121 + + + + +POISON ROMANCE AND POISON MYSTERIES + +CHAPTER I + +POISONS OF ANTIQUITY + + +LONG before the action of vegetable and mineral substances on human +beings and animals was known, it is probable that poisonous bodies in +some form were used by primitive man. + +When injured in battle by perhaps a flint arrow-head, or stone axe, he +sought for something to revenge himself on his enemy. In his search +after curative remedies he also found noxious ones, which produced +unpleasant effects when applied to the point of a weapon destined to +enter the internal economy of an opponent. + +He doubtless also became aware that the spear-points and arrow-heads on +which the blood of former victims had dried, caused wounds that rapidly +proved fatal, owing to the action of what we now call septic poisons. +This probably led to experiments with the juices of plants, until +something of a more deadly character was discovered. + +This was the very earliest age of poisoning, when pharmacy was employed +for vicious or revengeful purposes. + +Thus we find that almost every savage nation and people has its own +peculiar poison. In Africa the seeds of _Strophanthus hispidus_, +or kombé, a most virulent poison, are used for this purpose; while +explorers tell us that the ancient pigmy race of Central Africa employ +a species of red ant crushed to a paste, to tip their arrows and +spears. The South American Indians poison their arrow-heads with curare +or ourari, produced from a species of _strychnos_ and other plants, +while the Malays and hill tribes of India use aconite, and other +poisonous juices and extracts. The _Antiaris toxicaria_ is also used as +an arrow poison by the Malays. + +The bushmen of the South African district "Kalahari," use the juice +of the leaf beetle "diamphidia" and its larva for poisoning their +arrow-heads. Lewin, who calls the beetle _Diamphidia simplex_, found +in its body, besides inert fatty acids, a toxalbumin which causes +paralysis, and finally death. According to Boehm, the poison from +the larva also belongs to the toxalbumins, and Starke states, that +it causes the dissolution of the colouring matter of the blood and +produces inflammation. + +A halo of mystery, sometimes intermixed with romance, has hung about +the dread word _poison_ from very early times. In the dark days of +mythology, allusions to mysterious poisons were made in legend and +saga. Thus a country in the Far North was supposed to be ruled and +dominated by sorcerers and kindred beings, all of whom were said to +be children of the Sun. Here dwelt Æëtes, Perses, Hecate, Medea, +and Circe. Hecate was the daughter of Perses and married to Æëtes, +and their daughters were Medea and Circe. Æëtes and Perses were +said to be brothers, and their country was afterwards supposed to +be Colchis. To Hecate is ascribed the foundation of sorcery and the +discovery of poisonous herbs. Her knowledge of magic and spells was +supposed to be unequalled. She transmitted her power to Medea, whose +wonderful exploits have been frequently described and depicted, and +who by her magic arts subdued the dragon that guarded the golden +fleece, and assisted Jason to perform his famous deeds. Hecate's +garden is described by the poets as being enclosed in lofty walls with +thrice-folding doors of ebony, which were guarded by terrible forms, +and only those who bore the leavened rod of expiation and the concealed +conciliatory offering could enter. Towering above was the temple of +the dread sorceress, where the ghastly sacrifices were offered and all +kinds of horrible spells worked. + +Medea was also learned in sorcery and an accomplished magician. It is +related that, after her adventures with Jason, she returned with him to +Thessaly. On their arrival they found Æson, the father of Jason, and +Pelias, his uncle, who had usurped the throne, both old and decrepit. +Medea was requested to exert her magical powers to make the old man +young again, an operation she is said to have speedily performed by +infusing the juice of certain potent plants into his veins. + +Some years after, Medea deserted Jason and fled to Athens, and shortly +afterwards married Ægeus, king of that city. Ægeus had a son by a +former wife, named Theseus, who had been brought up in exile. At length +he resolved to return and claim his parentage, but Medea hearing of +this, and for some reason greatly resenting it, put a poisoned goblet +into the hands of Ægeus at an entertainment he gave to Theseus, with +the intent that he should hand it to his son. At the critical moment, +however, the king cast his eyes on the sword of Theseus, and at once +recognized it as that which he had delivered to his son when a child, +and had directed that it should be brought by him when a man, as a +token of the mystery of his birth. The goblet was at once thrown away, +the father embraced his son, and Medea fled from Athens in a chariot +drawn by dragons through the air. + +Circe's charms were of a more seductive and romantic character. She is +said to have been endowed with exquisite beauty, which she employed +to allure travellers to her territory. On their landing, she entreated +and enticed them to drink from her enchanted cup. But no sooner was +the draught swallowed, than the unfortunate stranger was turned into a +hog, and driven by the magician to her sty, where he still retained the +consciousness of what he had been, and lived to repent his folly. + +Gula, the patroness of medicine and a divinity of the Accadians, was +regarded by that ancient people as "the mistress and controller of +noxious poisons" as far back as 5000 years B.C. + +According to some authorities, the Hebrew word _Chasaph_, translated in +the Old Testament Scriptures as witch, meant poisoner. Scott states the +witches of Scripture had probably some resemblance to those of ancient +Europe, who, although their skill and power might be safely despised as +long as they confined themselves to their charms and spells, were very +apt to eke out their capacity for mischief by the use of actual poison; +so that the epithet of sorceress and poisoner were almost synonymous. + +The oldest Egyptian king, Menes, and Attalus Phylometer, the last king +of Pergamus, were both learned in the knowledge of the properties +of plants. The latter monarch also knew something of their medicinal +uses, and was acquainted with henbane, aconite, hemlock, hellebore, +etc. Other Egyptian rulers cultivated the art of medicine, and there +is little doubt that, probably through the priests, who were the chief +practitioners of the art of healing, they gathered a considerable +knowledge of the properties of many poisonous and other herbs. Prussic +acid was known to the Egyptians, and prepared by them in a diluted +form, from the peach and other plants. It is highly probable, indeed, +that the priests had some rudimentary knowledge of the process of +distillation, and prepared this deadly liquid from peach leaves or +stones, by that method. The "penalty of the peach" is alluded to in a +papyrus now preserved in the Louvre, which points to the liquid being +used as a death draught. + +The ancient Greeks, like the Chinese of to-day, looked upon suicide, +under certain conditions, as a noble act, for which poison was the +usual medium. Their "death cup" was mainly composed of the juice or +extract of a species of hemlock, called by them cicuta. The Chinese, +from remote times, are supposed to have used gold as a poison, +especially for suicidal purposes, and at the present day, when a high +official or other individual puts an end to his life, it is always +officially announced, "He has taken gold leaf"; a curious phrase, which +probably has its origin in antiquity. + +Nicander, of Colophon, a Greek physician, who lived 204-138 B.C., in +his work on "Poisons and their Antidotes," the earliest on the subject +known, describes the effects of snake venom and the properties of +opium, henbane, colchicum, cantharides, hemlock, aconite, toxicum +(probably the venom of the toad), buprestis, the salamander, the +sea-hare, the leech, yew (decomposed), bull's blood, milk, and certain +fungi, which he terms "evil fermentations of the earth"; and as +antidotes for the same he mentions lukewarm oil, warm water, and mallow +or linseed tea to excite vomiting. The same writer also made a rough +classification of the poisons known in his time, twenty-two in all, and +divided them into two classes--viz., "those which killed quickly," and +"those which killed slowly." + +Of the minerals, arsenic, antimony, mercury, gold, silver, copper, +and lead were used by the Greeks; the antidote recommended in case +of poisoning being hot oil, and other methods to induce vomiting and +prevent the poison being absorbed into the system. + +Bull's blood is classed as a poison by various ancient writers, +and it is recorded that Æson, Midas King of Phrygia, Plutarch, and +Themistocles, killed themselves by drinking bull's blood. It is +probable that some strong poisonous vegetable substance, such as +cicuta, was mixed with the blood. + +Dioscorides throws a further light on the poisons of antiquity in +his great work on Materia Medica, which for fifteen centuries or +more remained the chief authority on that subject. He mentions +cantharides, copper, mercury, lead, and arsenic. Among the animal +poisons are included toads, salamanders, poisonous snakes, a peculiar +kind of honey, and the blood of the ox, probably after it had turned +putrid. The sea-hare is frequently alluded to by the ancient Greeks, +and was evidently regarded by them as capable of producing a very +powerful poison. Domitian is said to have administered it to Titus. +It is supposed to have been one of the genus _Aplysia_, among the +gasteropods, and is described by the old writers as a dreadful object, +which was neither to be touched nor looked upon with safety. + +Among the poisonous plants enumerated by Dioscorides are the poppy, +black and white hellebore, henbane, mandragora, hemlock, elaterin, and +the juices of species of euphorbia, and apocyneæ. Medea is said to have +been the first to introduce colchicum. The black and white hellebore +were known to the Romans, and used by them as an insecticide, and +Pliny states that the Gauls used a preparation of veratrum to poison +their arrows. Arsenic was employed by the Greeks as a caustic, and for +removing hair from the face; while copper, mercury, and lead were used +in their medical treatment. The study of poisons was forbidden for a +long period, and Galen mentions the fact that only a few philosophers +dared treat the subjects in their works. + +In the East, poisons have been used from remote times, not only for the +destruction of human life, but also for destroying animals--arsenic, +aconite, and opium being employed by the Asiatics for these purposes. +The Hindoos have many strange traditions concerning poisons, some being +attributed with the property of causing a lingering death, which can +be controlled by the will of the poisoner. But this is doubtless more +legendary than correct. One curious and mysterious substance mentioned +by Blyth, and known in India as _Mucor phycomyces_, is stated to be +a species of fungi. When the spores are administered in warm water +they are said to attach themselves to the throat and rapidly develop +and grow, with the result that in a few weeks, all the symptoms of +consumption develop, and the victim is rapidly carried off by that +fatal disease. + +The early Hebrews were also acquainted with certain poisons, the words, +"rosch" and "chema" being used by them as generic terms. Arsenic was +known to them as "sam," aconite as "boschka," and ergot probably as +"son." + +The ancients attributed poisonous properties to certain bodies simply +on account of their origin being mysterious and obscure, and many of +these errors and traditions have been handed down for centuries. As +an instance of this, the belief that diamond dust possessed deadly +poisonous properties seems to have existed until recent times. Many +mysterious deaths in the Middle Ages were attributed to it. There is +little doubt that death might be caused by the mere mechanical effect +of an insoluble powder of this kind, if it were possible to introduce +it into the stomach in sufficient quantity, but powdered glass or sand +would have the same effect as diamond dust, viz. in causing violent +irritation of the stomach. Yet some of these old traditions have a +substratum of fact. + +The poisonous properties of the toad have long been regarded as +fabulous, but recent investigation has proved that the skin of a +species of toad secretes a poison, similar in action to digitalis. + +The venom of the toad has had the reputation of possessing poisonous +properties from a very early period, and was probably one of the +earliest forms of animal poison known. + +The old tradition, that King John was poisoned by a Friar who dropped a +toad into his wine, was regarded as a ridiculous fable until some years +ago, when it was discovered that the skin of the toad secretes a body, +the active principle of which, "phrynin," is a poison of considerable +power. + +One of the most curious uses to which the toad has been put is recorded +on a medical diploma now in the Library of Ferrara, which was granted +to one Generoso Marini in 1642. Marini having made application for a +Ferrarese diploma in medicine, the judges in whom the power of granting +such degrees was invested, ordered him to exhibit some efficient proofs +of his capability to practise the medical art. + +Marini at once agreed to comply with their demand, and the result is +recorded in his diploma, which was discovered by Cittadella in the +archives of Ferrara, and is translated as follows:-- + +"Having publicly examined and approved the science and knowledge +of medicine of Signor Generoso Marini, and his possession of the +wonderful secret called 'Orvietano,' which he exhibited on the stage +built in the centre of this our city of Ferrara, in presence of its +entire population so remarkable for their civilization and learning, +and in presence of many foreigners and other classes of people, we +hereby certify that, also in our presence, as well as that of the +city authorities, he took several living toads, not those of his own +providing, but from a great number of toads which had been caught in +fields in the locality by persons who were strangers to him, and which +were only handed to him at the moment of making the experiment. An +officer of the court then selected from the number of toads collected, +five of the largest, which the said Generoso Marini placed on a bench +before him, and in presence of all assembled spectators, he, with a +large knife, cut all the said toads in half. Then, taking a drinking +cup, he took in each hand one half of a dead toad, and squeezed from +it all the juices and fluids it contained into the cup, and the +same he did with the remainder. After mixing the contents together, +he swallowed the whole, and then placing the cup on the bench he +advanced to the edge of the stage, where for some minutes he remained +stationary. Then he became pale as death and his limbs trembled, and +his body began to swell in a frightful and terrible manner; and all the +spectators began to believe that he would never recover from the poison +he had swallowed, and that his death was certain. Suddenly, taking +from a jar by his side some of his celebrated 'Orvietano,' he placed a +portion of it in his mouth and swallowed it. Instantly, the effect of +this wonderful medicine was to make him vomit the poison he had taken, +and he stood before the spectators in the full enjoyment of health.[1] + +"The populace applauded him highly for the indisputable proof he had +given of his talent, and he then invited many of the most learned of +those present to accompany him to his house, and he there showed them +his dispensary as well as his collection of antidotes, and among them +a powder made from little vipers, a powerful remedy for curing every +sort of fever, as he had proved by different experiments he had made +on people of quality and virtue, all of whom he had cured of the fever +from which they were suffering, etc. + +"In consequence of the rare talent exhibited by Signor Generoso Marini, +and as a proof of our love and respect for his wisdom, we have resolved +by the authority placed in our hands publicly to reward him with a +diploma, so that he may be universally recognized, applauded, and +respected. In witness thereof we have set our hands and the public seal +of the municipality of Ferrara. + +"Data in Ferrara con grandissimo applauso il di 26 Luglio, 1642. + + "JOANNES CAJETANUS MODONI, + "_Index sapientum Civitatis Ferrari_. + + "FRANCISCUS ALTRAMARI, + "_Cancellarius_." + +But although the toad under certain conditions was credited with +poisonous properties, during the Middle Ages it was esteemed a valuable +remedy for the plague, and was employed for that purpose in Austria as +late as the year 1712. + +Cantharides, or Spanish fly, was very commonly used as a poison in +mediæval times, the usual method of administering being to chop it +up and mix it with pepper. It is said to have been the first poison +tried on the unfortunate Sir Thomas Overbury, although his murderers +finally finished him off with corrosive sublimate. Poisoned rings are +said to have been the invention of the Italians, who fashioned rings +in which the poison was inserted in a receptacle where the jewel is +usually set. Attached to the inner part of the ring was a sharp point +which, when the hand of the wearer was grasped, scratched the flesh and +injected the poison. Rings were also used for carrying strong poisons +secretly--such as arsenic, or corrosive sublimate--and in this manner +many were enabled to commit suicide after being imprisoned. + +Hyoscyamus, commonly called henbane, is a herb which has been employed +from remote times. Benedictus Crispus, Archbishop of Milan, in a work +written shortly before A.D. 681, alludes to it under the name of +hyoscyamus and symphoniaca, and in the tenth century its virtues are +particularly recorded by Macer Floridus. In the early Anglo-Saxon works +it is called henbell and sometimes belene. In a French herbal of the +fifteenth century it is called hanibane or hanebane. From a very early +period it has been employed as a sedative and anodyne, for producing +sleep, although simple hallucinations sometimes accompany its use. + +An old tradition states, that once in the refectory of an ancient +monastery the monks were served with henbane, instead of some harmless +root, in error by the cook. After partaking of the dish, they were +seized with the most extraordinary hallucinations. At midnight one +monk sounded the bell for matins, while others walked in the chapel +and opened their books, but could not read. Others sang roystering +drinking songs and performed mountebank antics, which convulsed the +others with uncontrollable laughter, and the pious monastery for the +nonce was turned into an asylum. Certain stones which were sold for +large sums of money were supposed to change colour when brought near a +poisonous substance, and they were consequently much sought after by +high personages. The horn of the unicorn was said to become moist when +placed near poisoned food. Bickman records his belief that several slow +poisons were known to the ancients which cannot now be identified. The +Carthaginians also seem to have been acquainted with similar poisons, +and, according to tradition, administered some to Regulus, the Roman +general. But we cannot endorse Bickman's belief. + +An incident which happened to the army led by Mark Antony against +the Parthians, and described by Plutarch, is said to have been caused +by aconite. At one time during the expedition, "the soldiers being +very short of provisions, sought for roots and pot-herbs ... and met +one that brought on madness and death. The eater immediately lost +all memory and knowledge, busying himself at the same time in turning +and moving every stone he met with, as if he were on some important +pursuit. The camp was full of unhappy men stooping to the ground, and +digging up and removing stones, till at last they were carried off by +bilious vomiting.... Whole numbers perished, and the Parthians still +continued to harass them. Antony is said to have frequently exclaimed: +'Oh! the ten thousand!' alluding to the army which Xenophon led in +retreat; both a longer way and through more numerous conflicts, and yet +led in safety." + +Nine active or virulent poisons are mentioned by most ancient writers +on Indian medicine, many of which are at present not identified. Most +of them are apparently varieties of aconite. Besides these, they +employed opium, gunja, datura, roots of _Nerium odorum_ and _Gloriosa +superba_, the milky juices of _Calotropis gigantea_ and _Euphorbia +neriifolia_, white arsenic, orpiment, and the poison extracted from the +fangs of serpents. + +Most of the older Sanscrit MSS. are written on paper prepared with +orpiment to preserve them from the ravages of insects. Three varieties +of _Datura_ yield atropine, a powerful poison. These plants were +frequently employed in India for putting a sudden end to domestic +quarrels, and to this practice may be traced the origin of the custom +of "Suttee," or widow burning, as the Brahmins found from experience +that, by making a wife's life conterminous with the husband's the +average husband lived considerably longer. + +It is worthy of note that the diamond was celebrated as a medicinal +agent by the Hindoos, who prepared it by roasting seven times and then +reducing it to powder. It was given in doses of one grain as a powerful +tonic. + + +[1] The celebrated "Orvietano" was doubtless some preparation of +antimony. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +POISONS AND SUPERSTITION + + +AMONG the ignorant, poisons have ever been closely associated with +superstition, and thus we find in the dark ages, even among the more +civilized nations of the West, a belief in the occult concerning those +things the action of which they did not understand. To most of the +poisonous herbs used by the ancients certain curious superstitions were +attached. The mandrake, in particular, excited the greatest veneration +on this account. It is supposed this plant is the same which the +ancient Hebrews called Dudaïm. That these people held it in the highest +esteem in the days of Jacob is evident from the notice of its having +been found by Reuben, who carried it to his mother; and the inducement +which tempted Leah to part with it proves the value then set upon this +remarkable plant. It was believed to possess the property of making +childless wives become mothers. Mandrake was among the more important +drugs employed by the ancients for producing anæsthesia. Doses of the +wine made from the root were administered before amputating a limb +or the application of the hot iron cautery. Pliny says: "Mandrake is +taken against serpents, and before cutting and puncture, lest they be +felt. Sometimes the smell is sufficient." According to Apuleius, half +an ounce of the wine would make a person insensible even to the pain of +amputation. Lyman states it was this wine, "mingled with myrrh," that +was offered to the Saviour on the Cross, it being commonly given to +those who suffered death by crucifixion to allay in some degree their +terrible agonies. In Shakespeare's time mandrake still kept its place +in public estimation as a narcotic. Thus we have Cleopatra asking for +the drug, that she may "sleep out this great gap of time" while her +Antony is away; and Iago, when his poison begins to work in the mind of +the Moor, exclaims-- + + "Not poppy, nor mandragora + Nor all the drowsy syrups of this world, + Shall ever medicine thee to that sweet sleep." + +Some of the old names applied to the plant, such as semihomo and +anthropomorphon, refer to the appearance of the root, while the +term "love-apples" applied to the fruit relates to their imaginary +aphrodisiacal properties. It is mentioned in the Scriptures in +connexion with such episodes. Josephus states "baaras" (supposed to +be mandrake) was capable of expelling demons from those possessed. +Demosthenes, the Athenian orator, is said to have compared his +lethargic hearers to those who had eaten mandrake. Dioscorides states +that "a drachm of mandragora taken in a draught, or eaten in a cake, +causes infatuation, and takes away the use of reason." The Greeks +bestowed on it the name of "Circeium" derived from the witch Circe. +They believed that when the mandrake was dragged up from the earth, it +gave a dreadful shriek, and struck the daring person dead who had had +the presumption to pull it up. The method of obtaining it, therefore, +was by fastening the plant to the tail of a dog, who thus drew the root +from the ground. The shriek was supposed to be due to an evil spirit +who dwelt in the plant. The Romans also were very particular in the +manner in which they obtained the root. Pliny tells us that he who +would undertake this office should stand with his back to the wind, +and before he begins to dig, make three circles round the plant with +the point of a sword, and then turning to the west proceed to take it +up. The small roots, which are much twisted and gnarled, sometimes +bear a resemblance to the form of man, and this was turned to account +by some of the old German doctors, who fashioned them into rude images +and sold them as preventives of evil and danger. They called them +Abrunes. These images were regularly dressed every day and consulted as +oracles and were manufactured in great numbers. They were introduced +into England in the time of Henry VIII, and met with ready purchasers. +To increase their value and importance, the roots were said by the +vendors to be produced from the flesh of criminals which fell from the +gibbet and that they only grew in such situations. Lord Bacon notices +their use in the following paragraph--"Some plants there are, but rare, +that have a morsie or downie root, and likewise that have a number of +threads like beards, as mandrakes, whereof witches and impostours make +an ugly image, giving it the form of a face at the top of the root, +and these strings to make a broad beard down to the foot." Madame de +Genlis states that "the mandrake roots should be wrapped in a sheet, +for that then they will bring increasing good luck." The plant is still +used medicinally in China, where it is said to be largely taken by the +mandarins, who believe it will give them increased intellectual powers +and prolong their lives. From recent investigation the activity of the +mandrake root is proved to be due to an alkaloid called mandragorine. + +The black hellebore, Melampus root or Christmas rose, another poisonous +plant known to the ancients, was believed to have magical properties. +It was called after Melampus, a great physician, who flourished at +Pylos, about one hundred years after the time of Moses, or about one +thousand five hundred and thirty years before the birth of Christ. He +is reputed to have cured the daughters of Proetus, King of Argos, of +mental derangement with hellebore. Pliny mentions that the daughters +of Proetus were restored to their senses by drinking the milk of goats +which had fed on hellebore. Black hellebore root was used by the +ancients to purify their homes and to hallow their dwellings, and they +believed that by strewing it about it would drive away evil spirits. +This ceremony was performed with great devotion, and accompanied with +the singing of solemn hymns. They also blessed their cattle in the same +manner with hellebore to keep them free from spells of the wicked. +For these purposes it was dug up with many religious ceremonies--such +as drawing a circle round the plant with a sword; then, turning to +the east, a humble prayer was finally offered up by the devotee, to +Apollo and Aesculapius for leave to dig up the root. The flight of +the eagle was particularly attended to during the ceremony, for when +this bird approached near the spot during the celebration of the +rite, it was considered so ominous as to predict the certain death of +the person who uprooted the plant in the course of the year. Others +ate garlic previous to the rite, which was supposed to counteract +the poisonous effluvia of the plant. Dioscorides relates that when +Carneades, the Cyrenaic philosopher, undertook to answer the books of +Zeno, he sharpened his wit and quickened his spirit by purging his head +with powdered hellebore. It is recorded that the Gauls never went to +the chase without rubbing the point of their arrows with this herb, +believing that it rendered all the game killed with them the more +tender. It is of this plant Juvenal sarcastically observes: "Misers +need a double dose of hellebore." + +With several uncivilised nations in Africa, the practice of compelling +persons accused of crime or witchcraft to undergo the ordeal of +swallowing some vegetable poison is still carried on. For this purpose +certain tribes in Western Africa use the Calabar bean, sometimes +called the ordeal bean, which contains a powerful poisonous principle, +called Physostigmine. It was customary, at one time, in Old Calabar, +and the mouth of the Niger, where the plant grows, to destroy it +whenever found, a few only being preserved to supply seeds for judicial +purposes, and of these seeds the store was kept in the custody of the +native chief. Witchcraft, indeed, may be said to play the chief part in +the daily life of all African natives, and to witchcraft they attribute +every ill that befalls them. Two classes of witchcraft are supposed +to exist--the one practised secretly by evil-doers, and the other +practised by the witch doctors with the view of destroying the effects +of the former. Witch doctors are, in fact, the greatest power in the +land; they hold the lives of all in their hands, and are daily employed +to satisfy the passions of their neighbours. "According to native +ideas," says one who has had a long experience among the native tribes, +"death or sickness never occurs through natural causes, but is always +the result of somebody's act. Whenever any one is accused of having +practised witchcraft, or of having committed any other crime, Calabar +bean or Muavi is used to decided the case. The taking of these is the +great trial by ordeal, and, usually, except when the accuser is a witch +doctor, accused and accuser have both to submit to the test. Chiefs, +however, may appoint a deputy to undergo the ordeal in their stead. +Muavi consists of a specially prepared drug, usually made by scraping +the wood of a certain tree known to the witch doctors; this is mixed +with water, and both parties swallow the decoction. In a very short +time the drug begins to act. Vomiting sets in, followed by convulsions +and death. Of course, in most cases the result depends on the dose +given. Sometimes both accuser and accused are seized with vomiting; in +that case the natives say that the medicine has been badly prepared, +and the operation is repeated. At other times both die; in that case +also the medicine was no good, but the trial cannot be renewed, as may +be readily understood. When the guilt of one of the parties has been +established by his death, his property is at once looted, his wife and +children being killed. So great, however, is the faith of the natives +in the infallibility of the Muavi test, and they so fully believe that +in case of innocence they will be proof against the deadly effects of +the drug, that they will never hesitate to submit themselves to the +trial; in fact, they will frequently volunteer to go through it, and +insist upon taking muavi even when falsely accused. From this account +it will be easily seen that the witch doctor who prepares the muavi can +easily get rid of any person he may wish. In some districts the drug +used for the trial, instead of causing death, when it has not acted as +an emetic, merely causes purging; but the result is the same, as the +man is at once put to death." This is probably due to a weaker decoction +of the drug having been prepared. The same traveller states, in many +instances his own men have offered to take muavi in order to refute the +slightest charge. Trial by ordeal, which still survives in the Dark +Continent, was practised by other and more civilized nations in the +early Christian era. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +ROYAL AND HISTORIC POISONERS + + +POISON appears to have been employed as a political agent from a very +early period of history, and numerous stories have been handed down +of royal personages who used this secret and deadly method of ridding +themselves of troublesome individuals, and removing enemies from their +path. They also, at times, became the victims of jealous rivals by the +same nefarious means. + +One of the earliest traditions we have of this kind is that of Phrysa, +who poisoned the queen Statira during the reign of Artaxerxes II +(Mnemon), B.C. 405-359, by cutting her food with a poisoned knife. +The notorious Nero doubtless resorted to the use of poison more than +once, as may be inferred from the story of the death of his brother +Britannicus, who, it is said, was poisoned by his orders. Britannicus +was dining with his brother and the Imperial family, and, as was the +custom of the Romans, hot water was brought round by slaves to the +table, the water being heated to varied degrees to suit the taste +of the drinker. According to the story, the cup of water handed to +Britannicus proved to be too hot, and he gave it back to the attendant +slave, who added cold water to it, which addition is supposed to have +contained the poison; for no sooner had he swallowed the draught than +he fell back gasping for breath. His mother, Agrippina, and Octavia, +his sister, who were also at the table, became terror-stricken, but +Nero, unmoved, calmly remarked that he often had such fits in his youth +without danger, and the banquet proceeded. It is thought probable that +the poison given was prussic acid in some form. + +A curious superstition existed in early times, and is still entertained +by the ignorant, that if the body rapidly decomposes after a sudden +death it is to be attributed to the effects of poison. So when +Britannicus died, it is recorded that the Romans attempted to conceal +his discoloured face by means of paint. During the Roman period, +poisoning was reduced to a fine art, and the skilled or professional +poisoner obtained large amounts of money for his services. + +The Borgias' favourite method of administering a lethal dose was by +means of a species of hypodermic injection. + +The greatest craft and cunning used to be exerted in order to introduce +poison into the system, and there are many old traditions concerning +the subtle methods employed, although a number of these are doubtless +more legendary than correct. Thus Tissot states that John, King of +Castile, owed his death to wearing a pair of boots which were supposed +to have been impregnated with poison by a Turk. Henry VI is said to +have succumbed through wearing poisoned gloves and Louis XIV and +Pope Clement VII through the fumes from a poisoned taper. King John +is supposed to have been poisoned by matter extracted from a living +toad placed in his wassail bowl, while Pope Alexander VI is said also +to have fallen a victim to poison, "after which," according to the +chronicler, "his body presented a fearful spectacle." + +A document drawn up by Charles, King of Navarre, throws some light on +the systematic manner in which the poisoning of obnoxious persons was +carried out in mediæval times. It is in the form of a commission to +one Wondreton to poison Charles VI, the Duke of Valois, brother of the +King, and his uncles, the Dukes of Berri, Burgundy, and Bourbon. It +runs: "Go thou to Paris; thou canst do great service if thou wilt. Do +what I tell thee; I will reward thee well. There is a thing which is +called sublimed arsenic; if a man eat a bit the size of a pea, he will +never survive. Thou wilt find it in Pampeluna, Bordeaux, Bayonne, and +in all the good towns thou wilt pass at the apothecaries' shops. Take +it, and powder it; and when thou shalt be in the house of the King, of +the Count de Valois his brother, and the Dukes of Berri, Burgundy, and +Bourbon, draw near and betake thyself to the kitchen, to the larder, to +the cellar, or any other place where thy point can best be gained, and +put the powder in the soups, meats, or wines; provided that thou canst +do it secretly. Otherwise do it not." It is satisfactory to learn that +the miscreant who was intrusted with this diabolical commission, was +detected in time, and executed in 1384. + +It is related of Charles IX that, having suspected one of his cooks of +stealing two silver spoons, he resolved to try the effect of bezoar, +which at that time was highly recommended as an antidote to poisons. +So, thinking a good opportunity had arrived for testing its properties, +his Majesty administered to the unfortunate cook, first, a large dose +of corrosive sublimate, and then a dose of the reputed antidote; but +the unlucky man fell a victim to the experiment, and died in great +agony in seven hours, in spite of other efforts to save him. + +There is an old tradition that King John also figured as a poisoner, +and got rid of the unfortunate Maud Fitz-Walter by means of a poisoned +egg. The story is a romantic one, and is related by Hepworth Dixon in +"Her Majesty's Tower." "In the reign of King John, the White Tower +received one of the first and fairest of a long line of female victims, +in that of Maud Fitz-Walter, who was known to the singers of her time +as Maud the Fair. The father of this beautiful girl was Robert, Lord +Fitz-Walter, of Castle Baynard, on the Thames, one of John's most +powerful and greatest barons. Yet the King, during, it is said, a fit +of violence or temper with the Queen, fell madly in love with the fair +Maud. As neither the lady herself nor her powerful sire would listen to +his disgraceful suit, the King is said to have seized her by force at +Dunmow and brought her to the Tower. Fitz-Walter raised an outcry, on +which the King sent troops into Castle Baynard and his other houses, +and when the baron protested against these wrongs, his master banished +him from the realm. Fitz-Walter fled to France with his wife and other +children, leaving poor Maud in the Tower, where she suffered a daily +insult in the King's unlawful suit. But she remained obdurate, and +refused his offers. On her proud and scornful answer to his overtures +being heard, John carried her up to the roof and locked her in the +round turret, standing on the north-east angle of the keep. Maud's +cage was the highest and chilliest den in the Tower; but neither cold, +solitude, nor hunger could break her strength, and at last, in the rage +of his disappointed love, the King sent one of his minions to her room +with a poisoned egg, of which the brave girl ate and died." + +Bluff King Hal at one period of his life was apprehensive of being +poisoned, and it was commonly believed that Anne Boleyn attempted to +dose him. It is recorded that the King, in an interview with young +Prince Henry, burst into tears, saying that he and his sister, the +Princess Mary, might thank God for having escaped from the hands of +that accursed and venomous harlot, who had intended to poison them. + +According to the French Chronicles, "After the death of Gaultier +Giffard, Count Buckingham, in the early part of the twelfth century, +Agnes his widow became enamoured with Robert Duke of Normandy and +attached herself in an illicit manner to him, shortly after which time +his wife Sibylle died of poison." + +Pope Alexander VI and his son the Duke Valentinois employed arsenic to +carry out their fiendish plans, not only on their enemies, but their +friends also. Thus perished by their hands the Cardinals of Capua and +Modena; and Alexander himself by a cup intended for Adrian, Cardinal +of Corneto, who had invited the pope to a banquet in the Vineyard of +Belvedere, was destroyed instead of his host. + +Lucretia Borgia, famous in romance and song for her poisoning +propensities, was a daughter of Pope Alexander VI, and sister of +Cesare Borgia. She married Giovanni Sforza, Lord of Pesaro, in 1493, +but being a woman of haughty disposition and evil temper, their life +was anything but a happy one; and after living together for four +years, Alexander dissolved the marriage, and gave her to Alphonso II +of Naples. Two years had barely passed before her second husband was +assassinated by hired ruffians of Cesare Borgia. So Lucretia took unto +herself a third husband in the person of Alphonso d'Este, a son of the +Duke of Ferrara. She led a wild and unhappy life, and was accused of +poisoning, and almost every form of crime, although it is stated by +several modern historians that many of these charges were unfounded. +Although tradition has inflicted her with a bad character, she is said +to have been a liberal patroness of art and literature in her time. She +died in 1523. + +In 1536 the Dauphin, eldest son of Francis I, died suddenly, and +suspicion attached to Sebastian Montecucculi, a Ferrarese, who held the +part of cup-bearer--bribed, as was supposed by Catherine of Medicis in +order to secure the crown to her husband, Henry, Duke of Orleans, who +became Dauphin in consequence of his elder brother's death. + +The story of the Countess of Somerset, who was tried with others for +the murder of Sir Thomas Overbury in the reign of James I, forms an +interesting episode in the history of romantic poisoning. Robert, +Earl of Essex, son of Queen Elizabeth's favourite, and who afterwards +became Commander-in-chief of the Parliamentary forces, married, at +the age of fourteen, Frances Howard, a younger daughter of the Earl +of Suffolk, the bride being just a year younger than her husband. The +match had been arranged and brought about through the influence of +relatives, who thought it expedient that the youthful bridegroom should +be sent off to travel on the Continent immediately after the marriage +had taken place, and he remained away for three or four years. During +this period the countess, who was brought up at court, developed into +a very beautiful woman, but seems to have been equally unprincipled +and capricious. On the return of the earl from his travels, she shrank +from all advances on his part, and showed the utmost repugnance to her +husband on all occasions. Their dispositions were entirely different. +He loved retirement, and wished to live a quiet country life, while +she, who had been bred at court, and accustomed to adulation and +intrigue, refused to leave town. The King about this time had a number +of young men of distinguished appearance and good looks attached to the +court, and of these, one Robert Carr, at length became an exclusive +favourite. Between him and the self-willed young countess there sprang +up an attachment, which, at least on her side, amounted to infatuation. +Her opportunities for meeting her lover were short and rare, and in +this emergency she applied to a Mrs. Turner, who introduced her to Dr. +Forman, a noted astrologer and magician at that time, and he, by images +made of wax, and other devices of the black art, undertook to procure +the love of Carr to the lady. At the same time he was also to practise +against the earl in the opposite direction. These measures, however, +were too slow for the wayward countess, and having gone to the utmost +lengths with her inamorata, she insisted on a divorce, and a legal +marriage with him. + +One of Carr's greatest friends was Sir Thomas Overbury, a young +courtier and a man of honour and kindly disposition. He was much +against this intimacy, and besought his friend to break it off, +assuring him it would ruin his prospects and reputation if he married +the lady. Carr unwisely made this known to the countess, who at once +regarded Overbury as a bitter enemy, and resolved to do what she could +to overthrow him. The pair plotted together with evident success, +for the unfortunate Sir Thomas was shortly afterwards committed to +the Tower by an arbitrary mandate of the King; next, he was not +allowed to see any visitors; and, finally, his food was poisoned, +and, after several unsuccessful attempts on his life, he at last died +from the effects of poison. Cantharides, nitrate of silver, spiders, +arsenic, and last of all, corrosive sublimate, are said to have been +administered in turn to this unfortunate individual. Meanwhile, +the countess obtained a divorce from her husband on the ground of +impotency, and married Carr, who was soon after made Earl of Somerset +by King James. + +Two years elapsed before the murder of Sir Thomas Overbury was brought +to light, when the inferior criminals, Mrs. Turner and the others, were +convicted and executed; but the Earl of Somerset and his countess, +although found guilty with their accomplices, received the royal +pardon. The happiness of the earl and countess, however, was not of +long duration, as it is stated they afterwards became so alienated +from each other, that they resided for years under the same roof with +the most careful precautions that they might not by any chance come +into each other's presence. The Mrs. Turner implicated in the crime is +said to have been the first to introduce into England the yellow starch +that was then applied to ladies' ruffs. Her last request was, that she +should be hanged in a ruff dyed with her own yellow starch, which is +said to have been carried out. + +According to some historians, Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, Prime +Minister and favourite of Queen Elizabeth, was a poisoner of the most +diabolical description. + +His ambition to marry his royal mistress, who, shrewd woman as she was, +seems to have had no insight into his unscrupulous character, was the +cause of his moving every human obstacle from his path by insidious +methods. The murder of his wife Amy Robsart was the first of a long +series of murders, carried out, doubtless, at his instigation. He was +next suspected of causing the death of Lord Sheffield, of whose lady he +was an admirer. The Earl of Essex is said to have been another victim. +His death is described in the language of the time as having been due +to "an extreme flux caused by an Italian Receit, the maker whereof was +a surgeon that then was newly come to my Lord from Italy, a cunning man +and sure in operation. The inventor of this recipe was known as one +Dr. Julio, who was said to be able to make a man dye in what manner +of sickness you will." The death of the Earl of Essex took place when +on his way home from Ireland, with the object of revenging himself +on the Earl of Leicester for his domestic wrongs. The next victim is +said to have been Cardinal Chatillian, who, having accused the earl +of preventing the marriage of the queen to the King of France, was +journeying back to Dover, when he was taken suddenly ill and died in +Canterbury. + +Sir Nicholas Throgmorton, a wealthy city magnate and a tool of the +earl's, whom, 'tis said, he used to thwart the doings of the Lord +Treasurer, Sir William Cecil, was another victim. Having heard that Sir +Nicholas was revealing some of his secrets, he invited him one night +to supper at his house in London, and at supper time hurriedly went to +the court, to which he said he had been called suddenly by her Majesty. +Sir Nicholas proceeded with the meal in his absence, and soon after +was seized with a violent vomiting, from which he never recovered. +According to an old chronicler, "The day before his death he declared +to a dear friend, all the circumstances and cause of his complaint, +which he affirmed plainly to be poison given him in a sallet at supper, +inveighing most earnestly against the earl's cruelty and bloody +disposition, and affirming him to be the wickedest, most perilous and +perfidious man under heaven." + +The chronicler continues: "And for his art of poisoning, it is such +now, and reaching so far, as he holdeth all his foes in England and +elsewhere, as also a good many of his friends, in fear thereof, and +if it were known how many he hath despatched in that way would be +marvellous to posterity. + +"His body physician, one Dr. Bayly, openly proclaimed the fact that he +knew of poisons which might be so tempered that they should kill the +party afterwards at what time it should be appointed; which argument +belike," says the writer of _Leycester's Commonwealth_, "pleased well +his Lordship of Leicester. The tool who carried out the murder of +the Earl of Essex is said to have been one Crompton, Yeoman of the +Bottles, together with Godwick Lloyd." Leicester was suspected of +being the instigator of many murders which probably he may have had +nothing to do with, such was the feeling of dislike against him. Among +others was Lady Lennox, who died in a mysterious manner shortly after +being visited by the earl. + +He is said to have kept in his employ several needy but unscrupulous +physicians, ready to administer the "Italian Comfortive," as the poison +was called, at his bidding. "With the Earl of Essex, one Mrs. Alice +Drakott, a godly gentlewoman, is also said to have been poisoned." +This lady happened to be accompanying the earl on her way towards her +own house, when after partaking of the same cup she was also seized +with violent pain and vomiting, which continued until she died, a +day or two before the earl succumbed. "When she was dead," says +the chronicler, "her body was swollen into a monstrous bigness and +deformity; whereof the good earl, hearing the day following, lamented +the case greatly, and said in the presence of his servants, 'Ah! poor +Alice, the cup was not prepared for thee, albeit it was thy hard +fortune to taste thereof.'" + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +PROFESSIONAL POISONERS + + +THE criminal destruction of life by poison has been practised from +ancient times. Very little was known of toxicology in those days, +and even the symptoms often passed unrecognised or were attributed +to natural causes, and the poisoners' fiendish work was frequently +undiscovered and rendered easy. In the early Christian era, poisoning, +indeed, became quite a profession, and convenient individuals could be +hired with little difficulty to administer a deadly dose to an enemy +or rival. Agrippina, in refusing to eat some apples offered to her +at table by her father-in-law Tiberius, must have had suspicions of +this kind. Locusta, who is said to have supplied the poison by which +Agrippina got rid of Claudius, and who also prepared the dose for +Britannicus, according to the order of his brother Nero, is the first +professional poisoner of whom we have record. + +In the year B.C. 331 an epidemic broke out in Rome which was supposed +to proceed from corrupt air, but it was observed that the principal +patricians only were the victims. Their deaths, however, were +attributed to infection, for poisoning was then scarcely known in +Rome nor was there a law for its punishment. In the general grief, +a female slave presented herself to the edile curule Q. Fabius and +accused more than twenty Roman ladies of poisoning: designing specially +Cornelia, a lady of an illustrious family of that name, and Sergia, +another patrician lady. It is recorded that as many as three hundred +and sixty-six ladies were similarly accused; but Cornelia and Sergia +were detected in compounding their fatal potions. "When led before +the popular assembly they maintained their preparations were harmless +remedies. The slave, seeing herself accused as a false witness, asked +that the ladies should be required to swallow their own potions; which +they did, and by so doing avoided a more shameful death." + +Later, there were, doubtless, many, both men and women of the baser +sort, who professed to practise alchemy, and had dealings in the black +arts, who for suitable consideration would procure poison for criminal +purposes. In mediæval times a law was passed in Italy rendering the +apothecary, who knowingly sold poison for criminal purposes, liable to +a heavy penalty, and yet secret poisoning was practised to a very large +extent; and there were probably many like the poor apothecary of Mantua +in _Romeo and Juliet_, who, in response to Romeo's demand for poison, +replied, "My poverty and not my will consents." + +From the fifteenth to the seventeenth century two great criminal +schools arose in Venice and Italy. + +The Venetian poisoners who first came into notoriety, flourished in the +fifteenth century. At that period the mania for poisoning had risen +to such a height, that the governments of the states were formally +recognizing secret assassination by poison, and considering the removal +of emperors, princes, and powerful nobles by this method. The notorious +Council of Ten met to consider such plans, and an account and record of +their proceedings still exists, giving the number of those who voted +for and who voted against the proposed removal, the reasons for the +assassination, and the sum to be paid for its execution. Thus these +conspirators quietly arranged to take the lives of many prominent +individuals; and when the deed was executed, it was registered on the +margin of their official record by the significant word "Factum." On +December 15, 1543, John of Raguba, a Franciscan brother, offered the +Council a selection of poisons, and declared himself ready to remove +any person whom they deemed objectionable out of the way. He calmly +stated his terms, which for the first successful case were to be a +pension of 1,500 ducats a year, to be increased on the execution of +future services. The Presidents, Guolando Duoda and Pietro Guiarini, +placed this matter before the Council on January 4, 1544, and on a +division, it was resolved to accept this patriotic offer, and to +experiment first on the Emperor Maximilian. John, who had evidently +reduced poisoning to a fine art, submitted afterwards a regular +graduated tariff to the Council, which ran as follows-- + +For the great Sultan, 500 ducats. + +For the King of Spain, 150 ducats, including the expenses of the +journey, etc. + +For the Duke of Milan, 60 ducats. + +For the Marquis of Mantua, 50 ducats. + +For the Pope, 100 ducats. + +He further adds at the foot of the document, "The farther the journey, +the more eminent the man, the more it is necessary to reward the toil +and hardships undertaken, and the heavier must be the payment." + +The school of Italian poisoners became prominent in the sixteenth and +seventeenth centuries, and the magnitude of their operations during +that period struck terror into the hearts of the chief nobles and +rulers of that country. + +The mania for secret poisoning seems to have seized on all classes +from the highest to the lowest, and no one who made an enemy was +safe. Porta, in his work published in 1589, gives some account of +the poisons used at the time, and seems to have made a study of the +subject. He describes methods for drugging wine (a favourite medium of +administration) with belladonna root, and also mentions nux vomica, +aconite, and hellebore, in his account of poisonous bodies. He gives +the following recipe for compounding a very strong poison, which he +calls "Venenum Lupinum": "Take of the powdered leaves of _Aconitum +lycoctonum_, _Taxus baccata_, with powdered glass, caustic lime, +sulphide of arsenic, and bitter almonds. Mix them with honey, and +make into pills the size of a hazel nut." He also recommends a curious +mixture to poison a sleeping person. It is composed of a mixture of +hemlock juice, bruised stramonium, belladonna, and opium. This is to be +placed in a leaden box with a perfectly fitting cover, and allowed to +ferment for several days; it is then to be opened under the nose of the +intended victim while asleep. So long as the individual only got the +smell and did not swallow the compound, it certainly would not do him +much harm. + +The most notorious of the Italian poisoners was the woman Toffana or +Toffania, who carried on her practices from the latter end of the +seventeenth century until she was brought to justice in 1709. Toffana +resided first at Palermo, but removed to Naples in 1659 during the +pontificate of Alexander VII. This later Circe gained large sums of +money by the sale of certain mysterious preparations she compounded, +which were afterwards proved to be simply solutions of arsenious acid. +These were circulated throughout Italy in small glass phials, bearing +the image of a saint, and labelled various names such as "Acquetta di +Napoli," or the "Manna of St. Nicholas of Bari," and "Aqua Toffana." +Any one in the secret could buy the poison for its supposed use as +a cosmetic, or other innocent property, and then employ it for any +purpose they wished. This infamous woman carried on her nefarious trade +from girlhood until she was nearly seventy years of age, without ever +having fallen into the meshes of the law, and it is stated over six +hundred persons were poisoned through her instrumentality. She dealt +only with individuals, after due safeguards had been built up, and she +changed her abode so frequently, and adopted so many disguises, that +her detection was rendered very difficult. She also called in the aids +of religion and superstition, and those who were uninitiated in the +history of her deadly elixir, imagined it to be a certain miraculous +oil which was supposed to ooze from the tomb of St. Nicholas. The +Popes Pius III and Clement XIV are said to have fallen victims to its +use. The composition of the Acquetta di Napoli was long a profound +secret, but it is said to have been known by the Emperor Charles VI of +Austria. According to a letter addressed to Hoffmann[2] by Garceli, +physician to the emperor, he informed the latter that, being Governor +of Naples at the time that the Acquetta was the dread of every noble +family in the city, and when the subject was investigated legally he +had an opportunity of examining all the documents, and that he found +the poison consisted of a solution of arsenic in _Aqua cymbalariæ_. +The dose was said to be from four to six drops in water, and that it +was colourless, transparent and tasteless. When the manufacture and +sale of the poison was at last traced to Toffana, she took refuge in +a convent, from which the abbess and archbishop refused to give her +up, and so continued to sell the water for twenty years longer, and +evaded punishment for the time. Public indignation was roused to such a +pitch, that at last the convent was broken into by a body of soldiers, +who secured Toffana and handed her over to the authorities. She was +tortured until she confessed in 1709, and then strangled, her body +being thrown into the garden of the convent which had sheltered her. + +Aqua Toffana was reputed to possess some very peculiar properties, and, +among others, that of causing death at any determinate period, after +months, for example, or even years of ill-health (a common supposition +attributed to poisons in the Middle Ages). Its alleged effects are +graphically described by Behrens as follows: "A certain indescribable +change is felt in the whole body, which leads the person to complain +to his physician. The physician examines and reflects, but finds no +symptoms either external or internal, no vomiting, no inflammation, +no fever. In short, he can only advise patience, strict regimen, and +laxatives. The malady, however, creeps on, and the physician is again +sent for. Still he cannot detect any symptoms of note. Meanwhile the +poison takes firmer hold of the system; languor, wearisomeness, and +loathing of food continue; the nobler organs gradually become torpid, +and the lungs in particular at length begin to suffer. In a word, the +malady from the first is incurable; the unhappy victim pines away +insensibly even in the hands of the physician, and thus is he brought +to a miserable end through months or years, according to his enemy's +desire." + +Toffana had many imitators, and some time after her death a similar +scheme was attempted with a poisonous solution reputedly sold as a +cosmetic, called the "Acquetta di Perugia." It is said to have been +prepared by killing a hog, disjointing it, strewing the pieces with +white arsenic, which was well rubbed in, and finally collecting the +juice which dropped from the meat itself. This preparation was supposed +to be much stronger and a more powerful poison than arsenic itself, but +doubtless had the same fatal effect. + +It is a curious fact that most of the notorious poisoners in mediæval +times were women, and, indeed, in later years the frail sex seem to +have retained a special predilection for this form of crime. In the +year 1659, a secret society of women, most of whom were young wives +belonging to some of the best and wealthiest families of Rome, was +discovered in that city, the sole or chief object of which was to +destroy the lives of the husbands of the members. They met at regular +intervals at the house of one Hieronyma Spara, a woman reputed to be a +witch, who provided her fellow associates and pupils with the required +poison, and planned and instructed them how to use it. Operations had +been carried on for some time, when the existence of the society was +discovered and, says a chronicler, "the hardened old hag passed the +ordeal of the rack without confession; but another woman divulged the +secrets of the sisterhood, and La Spara, together with twelve other +women implicated, were hanged." Many others who were guilty in a lesser +degree were publicly whipped through the streets of the city. + +In the seventeenth century the mania for poisoning seems to have spread +to France, and great interest was excited by the disclosures which +followed the discovery of Exili's conspiracy to poison a number of +persons. Madame de Montespan, one of the favourites of Louis XIV, a +woman of great beauty, died very suddenly at the age of twenty-six, on +June 30, 1672, and it was generally believed she had been poisoned. +The rumour seems to have been set on foot by one of her husband's old +servants, who professed to know the individual who had administered +the fatal dose. "This man," said he, "who was not rich, withdrew +immediately afterwards into Normandy, where he bought an estate, on +which he lived with grandeur a long time; the poison was powder of +diamonds, mixed, instead of sugar, with strawberries." + +Voltaire, who believed the whole story to be a myth, states: "The +court and city believed the princess had been poisoned with a glass +of water of succory, after which she felt terrible pains, and soon +after was seized with the agonies of death; but the natural malignity +of mankind, and a fondness for extraordinary incidents, were the only +inducements to this general persuasion. The glass of water could not +be poisoned, since Madame de la Fayette and another person drunk what +remained without receiving the least injury from it. The princess had +been a long time ill of an abscess, which had formed itself in the +liver." For some time the young Chevalier De Lorraine, the favourite +of the Duke of Orleans, rested under suspicion, it being openly stated +that the motive was to revenge the banishment and imprisonment which +his misbehaviour to the princess a short time before had drawn upon +him. Public opinion was strengthened in the belief that the princess +had met her death through poison, by the fact that just at this time +the mania for secret poisoning seemed to spread over France. About +this date a German apothecary and alchemist, named Glaser, settled +in Paris, together with two Italians, one of whom was called Exili. +Their professed object was a research to discover the Philosopher's +Stone. Having lost the little they possessed in a very short time in +the pursuit of this chimera, they commenced the secret sale of poisons. +Through the confessional their nefarious trade became known to the +Grand Penitentiary of Paris. This dignitary gave information to the +Government, and the two suspected Italians were promptly sent to the +Bastille, where one of them died; but Exili, while still in prison, +managed to carry on his business, and found ready purchasers for his +secrets, and the number of deaths attributed to poison increased to +such an extent, that a special court for the investigation of poisoning +cases, called "La Chambre Ardente," was formed. A few years later +the whole of France was aroused by the confession of the Marquise de +Brinvilliers of having poisoned her father, two brothers, and a sister. +Her husband, the Marquis de Brinvilliers, invited a friend, one Captain +St. Croix, who was an officer in his regiment, to lodge in his house. +The too agreeable person of the lady of the house speedily charmed the +visitor, and to her credit she endeavoured to inspire her husband with +a fear of the consequences; but he obstinately persisted in keeping +his young friend in the house with his wife, who was both young and +handsome, with the result they soon conceived a passion for each other. +The father of the marquise, one Lieutenant Daubrai was greatly incensed +on hearing of his daughter's indiscretions, and obtaining a _lettre de +cachet_ had the captain sent to the Bastille. Here St. Croix was placed +in the same cell as Exili, and the latter soon instructed him how he +might easily revenge himself. The marquise, who found means of visiting +her lover, was informed how to obtain the poison, and at once commenced +operations on those members of her family who were most incensed +against her, with the result, that first her father, then her brothers +and sister fell victims to her revenge. Suspicion resting on her, she +fled into Belgium, and was arrested at Liège. A full confession of her +crimes, written by her own hand, was found upon her. + +She was eventually beheaded, and burnt near Notre Dame in July, 1676. +St. Croix is said to have accidentally succumbed to the effects of +poisonous fumes in his own laboratory. The authorities on examining +his effects, as he left no family, came across a small box to which +a paper was attached, which contained a request that after his death +"it might be delivered to the Marquise de Brinvilliers, who resides in +Rue Neuve St. Paul." This paper was signed and dated by St. Croix on +May 25, 1672. On the box being opened, it was found to contain a large +collection of various poisons, including corrosive sublimate, antimony, +and opium. When the marquise heard of the death of her lover, she at +once made every effort to obtain the box by bribing the officers of +justice, but failed. La Chaussée, the servant of St. Croix, laid claim +to the property, but was arrested as an accomplice and imprisoned. On +confessing many serious crimes he was broken alive on the wheel in +1673. Evidence was brought to prove at the trial of De Brinvilliers, +that both she and St. Croix were secretly combined with other persons +accused of similar crimes. Some distinguished people were implicated, +including Pennautier, the receiver-general of the clergy, who was +afterwards accused of practising her secrets. One crime seemed to bring +another to light, and two persons, named La Voisin and La Vigoreux, +a priest named Le Sage, and several others, were next haled before +the tribunal, and charged with trading with the secrets of Exili and +inciting people with weak minds to the crime of poisoning. It was +alleged that through their instrumentality a large number of married +women had hastened the decease of their husbands. + +The Chambre Ardente, or Burning Court, as it was commonly called, was +established at the Arsenal, near the Bastille, and was rarely idle. +Persons of the highest rank were cited to appear before it; among +others, two nieces of Cardinal Mazarin, the Duchess of Bouillon, and +the Countess de Soissons, mother of Prince Eugène. The Countess de +Soissons had to retire to Brussels. + +The Marshal de Luxemburg was the next sensational arrest. He was +carried to the Bastille and submitted to a long examination, after +which he was allowed to remain fourteen months in prison. La Voisin and +his accomplices were eventually condemned and burnt at the stake, which +seemed to put a check on this series of abominable crimes which spread +throughout France from 1670 to 1680. + +Maria Louisa, daughter of Louis XIV, who married Charles II, King +of Spain, is said to have died from the effects of poison in 1689. +Voltaire states: "It was undoubtedly believed that the Austrian +Ministers of Charles II would get rid of her, because she loved her +country and might prevent the king, her husband, from declaring for the +allies against France; they even sent her from Versailles what they +believed to be a counter-poison." This did not arrive until after her +death. In the memoirs of the Marquis de Dangeau, he says: "The king +announced the death of his daughter at supper in these words--'The +Queen of Spain is dead, poisoned by eating of an eel pye; and the +Countess de Pernits and the Cameras, Zapeita, and Nina, who eat of it +after her, are also dead of the same poison.'" It is more than probable +the unfortunate queen and her ladies succumbed to some putrefactive +poison in the fish itself, and were not killed by intent. Nothing was +known of animal poisons in those days, and such was the state of the +public mind that nearly every sudden death was at once attributed to +poison. + +The close of the reign of Louis XIV was marked by the sudden deaths of +no less than six members of the royal family in close succession. The +public sorrow and excitement were great, and rumours and suspicions +of poisoning were revived with fury unexampled. The prince had a +laboratory, and among other arts studied chemistry. This was considered +by the ignorant to be sufficient proof, and the public outcry became +terrible. On a visit of the Marquis de Canellae, the prince was found +extended on the floor shedding tears, and distracted with despair. His +chemist and fellow worker, Homberg, ran to surrender himself at the +Bastille, but they refused to receive him without orders. The prince +was so beside himself on hearing the public outcry and suspicions +that he demanded to be put in prison so that his innocence might be +cleared by judicial forms. The _lettre de cachet_ was actually made +out, but not signed. The marquis alone kept his head, and prevailed +upon the prince's mother to oppose the _lettre de cachet_. "The monarch +who granted it, and his nephew who demanded it, were both equally +wretched," says the historian. + +The "poudre de succession," famous in Paris as a secret poison, was +at one time supposed to consist of diamond dust, but, according to +Haller, was really composed of sugar of lead. This was used by several +notorious criminals during the seventeenth century. + + +[2] Hoffmann, _Medecina Rationalis Systematica_, i. 198. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +POISONING PLOTS + + +THE use of poison as an instrument for political purposes during +the Middle Ages soon spread over Europe, and the dread of wholesale +poisoning caused numerous panics. Some of these alarms may probably +have been circulated by unscrupulous traders who had articles to sell, +or some business interest to forward, but of others authentic records +exist. + +June 6 is still kept as a public holiday in Malta. Upon that day, a +century and a half ago, while the island was still possessed by the +Knights of St. John, a Jew waited on the Grand Master, and revealed to +him a plot that had been planned for exterminating the whole population +at a stroke. This man kept a coffee house frequented by the Turkish +slaves, and understanding their language, he had overheard suspicious +remarks among his customers. The Grand Master, believing the truth +of the man's statement, took immediate action. The slaves indicated +were at once seized and put to torture, and they confessed a design of +poisoning all the wells and fountains on the island, and to make the +result surer, each of the conspirators was to assassinate a Christian. +One hundred and twenty-five were found guilty. Some were burnt, some +broken on the wheel, while others were ordered to have their arms and +legs attached to two galleys which, on being rowed apart, would thus +dismember them. Whether these frightful punishments were carried out +it is impossible to say, but the fact remains that the people of Malta +still commemorate their escape from poisoning to the present time. + +Wholesale poisoning appears to have been a common practice in Eastern +countries, especially in India and Persia. The wells or other water +sources were usually chosen as the medium for disseminating the poison, +and in this way whole villages have often been destroyed by some +miscreant. Another extraordinary poisoning plot was discovered in Lima +towards the close of the eighteenth century. During the insurrection of +1781, a rich Cacique, who professed loyalty, went to a chemist's shop +and asked for 200 lb. of corrosive sublimate. He was willing to pay +any price. The chemist had not anything like that amount in stock, and +not wishing to send such a good customer away, substituted 200 lb. of +alum. On the following day all the water in the town was found to be +impregnated with alum. An examination being made of the reservoir, it +was found that the fence round it had been broken down and the banks +strewn with alum, and the water rendered undrinkable. + +England has remained practically free from crimes of this kind. In +1530, a case occurred which caused great public indignation. Fisher, +Bishop of Rochester, was accustomed to entertain a number of poor +people daily. One afternoon a large number of his humble guests, +together with some of the officers of the household, were taken +ill. Two died, and after an examination of the food had been made, +it was declared the yeast had been poisoned. Parliament took up the +investigation, and the bishop's cook, one Richard Rowe, was found +guilty. He was tried, and sentenced to be boiled alive as a terrible +example to others. Boiling seems to have been a favourite punishment +for poisoners during the Middle Ages, a fact which, doubtless, shows +the abhorrence in which crimes of this kind were held. + +It is further recorded that "On March 17th, 1524, Margaret Davy, maid, +was boiled in Smithfield for poisoning three households she had dwelled +in." + +Among Queen Elizabeth's statesmen, poison would appear to have been +regarded as almost a legitimate weapon of defence. Her favourite +Leicester, to whom we have already alluded, was often called "The +Poisoner." This propensity was probably largely due to the fact +that most young Englishmen of rank were sent to Italy to finish +their education, and there were introduced to the Italian methods of +poisoning so much in vogue. + +The Duc de Guise, in his memoirs, relates in a most matter-of-fact way, +how he requested the captain of his guard to poniard a troublesome +demagogue at Naples. The captain was shocked. He would poison any one +at his Grace's command with pleasure, but the dagger was a vulgar +instrument. So the duke bought some strong poison, the composition +of which he describes at length, and it was duly administered. But +Gennaro, the intended victim, had just eaten cabbage dressed in oil, +which is said to have acted as an antidote, and so he lived after all. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +CONCERNING ARSENIC + + +ARSENIC has, perhaps, been more frequently used than any other poison +for criminal purposes. It was known to the ancient Greeks in the form +of the yellow sulphide, commonly called orpiment. It is found in +Greece and Hungary. Its bright yellow colour caused many of the early +alchemists to consider it the key to the Philosopher's Stone, and this +is said to be grounded on some enigmatical verse in the Sibylline +oracles. The Emperor Caligula, according to Pliny, ordered a great +quantity of orpiment to be melted and manipulated, so that the gold it +was supposed to contain might be extracted from it. + +Arsenic is the agent most commonly employed for criminal purposes in +India, doubtless because it can be both easily and cheaply obtained. +The reports of the analyst to the Bombay Government throw considerable +light on the methods pursued by Indian poisoners. The poison is usually +given in sweetmeats, and generally by a "strange woman," who has been +met in the street and who mysteriously disappears. This "strange +woman" is found in every analyst's report for the past twenty years, +and under much the same circumstances. Most of the cases are typical of +the people among whom they occur, as, for instance, the following: + +"In a Scinde district a man went into a shop one day and entered into +friendly conversation with a stranger he met there. On parting, by +way of thanking him, the stranger presented him with some sweets for +distribution among his friends. The result was that five men and a boy +were poisoned, and the obliging stranger has never been heard of since." + +The professional poisoner in India--for there are many such--is rarely +caught or even suspected. In a large number of cases, crimes of this +kind are taken little notice of by the community; and sometimes the +poisoner apparently thinks nothing of poisoning a whole family in order +to make sure of his victim. The utter absence of motive in the majority +of cases would point to the conclusion that they were largely the +result of homicidal mania. + +For more than a century after the properties of arsenic were well +known, there was no certain method known for its detection, and very +little advance was made until the early part of last century, when +Marsh discovered his test in 1836, by means of which the minutest +quantities of the poison may be detected. + +It is characteristic of both arsenic and mercury, that their presence +may be proved and demonstrated, even in the bones, years after they +have been taken. In proof of this, the following remarkable case is +given. A wealthy farmer died, and was buried in the tomb where his +father had been interred thirty-five years before. An examination +of certain of the bones of the father revealed particles of a +metallic-looking substance, which was collected and tested, and proved +to be mercury. It had thus been preserved in his body for more than +the third of a century, the probability being, that he had been in the +habit of taking it medicinally during the latter part of his life. +Another strange case came under the notice of a Bristol chemist, in +which he found abundant traces of arsenic in the bodies of several +young children after they had been buried eight years. + +A curious story is related by the late Sir Richard Quain that came +under his experience, and one which would have proved a profound +mystery to this day but for his practical knowledge and acumen. He was +asked to make a post-mortem examination on the body of a man who was +by trade a stone-mason. To continue the story in his own words, "One +day, on coming in to his dinner, he went into the scullery, washed +his hands, and, going into the kitchen, he said to his wife, 'It is +all over; I have taken poison.' 'What have you taken?' 'Arsenic,' +he replied, and she at once took him off to the Western General +Dispensary. The senior surgeon was out when they got there, but two +young pupils of his happened to be in, who thought it was a very +important case, and they would treat it pretty actively. So they gave +him tartar emetic, pumped out the stomach, and pumped oxide of iron +into it, and a good many other operations they performed. The poor +man was extremely ill, and died in twenty-four hours. The coroner's +beadle went to the chemist and said: 'How did you come to sell this man +poison?' He replied, 'I sold him no poison; I thought he was off his +head when he came.' 'What did you give him?' 'Oh, I gave him some alum +and cream of tartar and labelled it poison.' He swallowed this, in the +belief it was arsenic," says Sir Richard. "When I made the post-mortem +examination, to my amazement I found a great deal of _arsenic_ in the +stomach. This was rather puzzling. I said, if it is in the stomach it +ought to go farther down. So I searched the intestines, but there was +no trace of arsenic anywhere. The simple explanation of it was this, +these two young fellows, horrified to find the man had died without +taking arsenic after all, pumped some into the stomach." + +Another instance that terminated in a less tragic manner, in which a +would-be suicide was frustrated by a watchful chemist, happened some +years ago. + +One morning a tall, decently dressed man, of seafaring aspect, entered +a chemist's shop in the neighbourhood of the docks of a northern +seaport, and in a solemn and confidential manner asked for a shilling's +worth of _strong_ laudanum. + +"For what purpose do you require it?" asked the chemist. + +"Well, you see, sir," the man explained, "I've just come off a voyage +from 'Frisco, and I find my sweetheart has gone off with Jim, you see, +sir, and now it's all up with me. Give me a strong dose, please, and if +you don't think a shilling's worth will be enough----" + +"But, my good man----" interrupted the chemist. + +"I'll shoot myself if not, sir, I will." + +"All right, then," said the chemist; and, seeing argument was useless, +he proceeded to mix an innocent but nauseous draught of aloes. + +"Now put in a shilling's worth of arsenic." + +"Very well," replied the chemist, adding some harmless magnesia. + +"And you might as well throw in a shilling's worth of prussic acid," +said the broken-hearted lover. + +The chemist carefully measured a little essence of almonds into the +glass, and handed it to the would-be suicide. He paid, swallowed it at +one draught, and solemnly walked out of the shop. + +Crossing the street, which was quiet at the time, he deliberately laid +himself flat on his back on the footpath, and closed his eyes. + +A group of children gathered round, and stood gazing with their eyes +and mouths open in wonderment, and an occasional passer-by stopped a +moment, cast a glance at the unwonted sight, and then passed on. + +After lying thus quite motionless for about five minutes, he suddenly +raised his head, took a look round, then with one bound jumped to his +feet and made off as hard as he could run. + +It is a curious fact that arsenic has been the favourite medium of +female poisoners from very early times; and in two celebrated poisoning +cases of later years, in both of which women were accused of murder +by the administration of arsenic, the plea that the poison had been +used by them for cosmetic purposes has been put forward to account +for having it in their possession. The effect of arsenic on the skin +is well known, and that it is frequently used, both internally and +externally, to improve the skin, by women, is an undoubted fact.[3] +That such a practice may lead to the taking of arsenic as a confirmed +habit there is also evidence to prove, and the writer has met with more +than one instance, in which the habit of taking solution of arsenic in +large quantities has been contracted by women. + + +[3] The recent rage for the so-called arsenical soaps, which are +supposed to improve the complexion and are being extensively used by +women, goes to corroborate this statement. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE STRANGE CASE OF MADAME LAFARGE + + +THE story of Madame Lafarge, who was tried in France for the murder of +her husband in 1840, is a strangely romantic one. + +Marie Fortunée Cappelle was the daughter of a captain in the Imperial +Artillery. Her parents died in her childhood, and she was placed in +the care of an aunt, who, at the earliest opportunity, determined +to relieve herself of the burden of her support by negotiating a +marriage for her. While still a girl, through the instrumentality of +a matrimonial agent in Paris, an alliance was arranged between Marie +Cappelle and one Monsieur Charles Lafarge, who was a widower and an +ironmaster of Glandier. + +The marriage, which was purely a commercial transaction, took place in +Paris on August 15, 1839, after which, Lafarge and his young wife set +out for his old and gloomy seigneurial mansion in Glandier. + +From statements made afterwards, Madame Lafarge became disgusted with +her husband's brutality before the honeymoon was over. After they +reached their own house, however, they were reconciled, and there +seemed to be every possibility of their spending a happy wedded life +together. + +Besides the newly married pair, there lived in the family mansion the +mother and sister of Lafarge, and his chief clerk, one Denis Barbier, +was a frequent visitor at the house, and had liberty to walk through +the place without restriction. + +In a very short time Madame Lafarge discovered that both she and her +relatives had been deceived as to the position of her husband, and that +instead of being a man of considerable fortune, he was straitened for +means. On his representations she bestowed upon him all her fortune, +and even wrote letters at his dictation to some of her wealthy friends, +asking them to aid him to find money to develop a new method he +claimed to have discovered for smelting iron. With these letters of +introduction, Lafarge set out for Paris in December, 1839, to raise +money to start his new project. + +While he was thus away, his wife had her portrait drawn by an artist +in Glandier, and determined to send it to her absent husband. She +therefore packed it in a box, with some cakes made by his mother, +together with an affectionate letter, and despatched them to Paris. +This box, which contained nothing but the five small cakes, the +portrait, and the letter, was packed and sealed by Madame Lafarge in +the presence of several witnesses. + +When it reached Paris and was opened by Lafarge, it contained only _one +large cake_, after partaking of which he was suddenly taken ill, and +was eventually compelled to return home, where he arrived on January 5, +1840. His sickness continued and increased in severity, and nine days +afterwards he died. + +Shortly after his death his mother and friends, who were well aware how +the widow disliked them and her husband also, who had made her life so +unhappy, at once imputed the cause of death to poison administered by +his wife in the cake she had sent to Paris, and Marie Cappelle Lafarge +was arrested on suspicion. + +When the house of the deceased man was searched, certain diamonds were +found, which were supposed to have been stolen from the Vicomtesse de +Léotaud by Madame Lafarge before her marriage. + +The unfortunate woman was therefore charged with the double crime of +theft and murder. + +Though arrested in January, 1840, the trial of Madame Lafarge did not +commence till July 9 of the same year, and the charge of theft was +first proceeded with in her absence, and she was found guilty. + +While this judgment was still under appeal, she was brought to trial on +the graver charge. + +The evidence for the prosecution went to prove that the illness of +Lafarge commenced with the eating of the cake received from his home. +As already stated, when the box arrived in Paris the seals had been +broken, the five cakes had disappeared, and _a single cake "as large +as a plate"_ had been substituted for them. It was alleged by the +prosecution that this single cake had been prepared by Madame Lafarge, +and secretly placed in the box; but no evidence could be brought to +prove that she ever tampered with the box after it had been sealed. +Lafarge's clerk, Denis Barbier, made a clandestine visit to Paris after +the box had been despatched, and he was with Lafarge when it arrived +in Paris, yet no notice seems to have been taken of this suspicious +fact. It transpired, it was he who also first threw out hints on his +master's return that he was being poisoned by arsenic, and told a +brother employé that his master would be dead within ten days. There +was ample proof, however, that there was a considerable quantity of +arsenic in the house at Glandier. It was found that Madame Lafarge had +purchased some in December, stating she required it for destroying +rats; Denis also stated in evidence, that Madame had requested him to +procure her some arsenic. He bought some, but did not give it to her. +It was further stated that Madame Lafarge was seen to stir a white +powder into some chicken broth which had been prepared for her husband, +the remains of which, found in a bowl, were said by the analyst to +contain arsenic. + +The medical men who conducted the post-mortem examination gave it as +their deliberate opinion that the deceased man had been poisoned by +arsenic, of which metal they professed to have found considerable +quantities. The friends of the accused then submitted the matter to +Orfila, the famous toxicologist, who, on giving his opinion of the +methods and manner in which the analysis had been carried out, said +that owing to the antiquated and doubtful methods of detection employed +by the medical men, it was probable they fancied they had found arsenic +where there was none. Thereupon the prosecution asked Orfila to +undertake a fresh analysis himself, which he consented to do, and, on +making a careful examination of the remains, stated he discovered just +a minute trace of arsenic. + +This apparently sealed the doom of the accused woman, and served to +strengthen the bias of the jury. But now another actor appeared in the +drama in the person of Raspail, another famous French chemist, who +had watched the case from the beginning with interest. On hearing the +result of Orfila's examination, he had taken the trouble to trace the +zinc wire with which Orfila had experimented, to the shop where the +great toxicologist had procured the article, and he found on analysis +that the _zinc itself_ contained more arsenic than Orfila had detected +by his examination. Orfila had used Marsh's test, which is infallible +so long as the reagents used are free from arsenic themselves. + +Raspail, having placed the result of his discovery of arsenic in +Orfila's reagent, at the service of the defence, was on his way to +Tulle, where the Assizes were being held, when an unfortunate accident +delayed his progress, and the unhappy Marie Cappelle Lafarge, after +a trial which lasted sixteen days, was found guilty meanwhile, and +condemned to imprisonment for life with hard labour, and exposure in +the pillory. Raspail, however, would not let the matter rest, and at +once set to work to save the condemned woman. He at length got Orfila +to fairly admit his error and join him in a professional report to the +authorities to that effect. + +After being imprisoned for twelve years, in the end the sentence on +this unhappy woman was reduced to five years in the Montpellier house +of detention, after which the Government sent her to the Convent of +St. Rémy, from whence she was liberated in 1852, but only to end her +wretched life a few months afterwards. + +There appeared in the _Edinburgh Review_ for 1842 a careful +examination of this interesting case from a legal point of view, in +which the writer states the strongest evidence indicated Denis and not +Madame Lafarge as the perpetrator of the crime. It was proved this man +lived by forgery, and assisted Lafarge in some very shady transactions +to cover the latter's insolvency. He was further known to harbour a +deadly hatred for Madame Lafarge. He was with his master in Paris when +he was seized with the sudden illness, and it transpired that out +of the 25,000 francs the ironmaster had succeeded in borrowing from +his wife's relatives, only 3,900 could be found when he returned to +Glandier. On his own statement he was in the possession of a quantity +of arsenic, and he was the first to direct suspicion against his +master's wife. Yet all these facts appear to have been overlooked in +the efforts of the prosecution to fasten the guilt on the unfortunate +woman. That Lafarge died from the effects of arsenical poisoning there +seems little doubt, but by whom it was administered has never been +conclusively proved, and the tragedy still remains among the unsolved +poisoning mysteries. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE CASE OF MADELINE SMITH + + +THE case of Madeline Smith, who was charged with causing the death +of L'Angelier by the administration of arsenic at Glasgow, in 1857, +excited universal interest. Owing to the social position of the lady, +the trial was a _cause célèbre_ of the time, and the circumstances +of the case were of an extraordinary character. Miss Smith, who was +a young and accomplished woman at that time, and who resided in a +fashionable quarter of Glasgow, got entangled with a French clerk +named Pierre Emile L'Angelier. L'Angelier died very suddenly in an +unaccountable manner, and suspicion falling on Madeline Smith, who +was frequently in his company, she was arrested and charged with the +crime. The Crown case was, that she poisoned her lover that she might +be betrothed to a personage of high social standing. That L'Angelier +died on March 23 from the effects of arsenic was amply proved, but +while suspicious acts were alleged against the accused woman, no direct +evidence was adduced to show that she administered the drug. The worst +point against her was the fact of her having possession of the poison; +and, irrespective of two previous purchases of coloured arsenic for +which she had given false reasons, it was proved that the accused had +purchased one ounce, as she said, "to kill rats," on March 18, only +five days before the death of L'Angelier. The arsenic sold was coloured +with indigo, according to the Act of Parliament. When charged with the +crime, and required to account for the poison, she replied she had used +the whole of it to apply to her face, arms, and neck, diluted with +water, and that a school companion had told her that arsenic was good +for the complexion. From the post-mortem examination and subsequent +analysis _eighty-eight_ grains of arsenic were found in the stomach +and its contents. Dr. Christison, the greatest toxicological expert of +the time, was called, and stated he knew of no case in which so much +as eighty-eight grains of arsenic had been found in the stomach after +death. + +This was made a turning-point of the defence, and it was contended +that so large a dose of arsenic could not have been swallowed +unknowingly, and, therefore, suicide was indicated. The jury accepting +this view of the case, returned a verdict of "not proven," and Madeline +Smith was liberated, the trial having lasted ten days. + +Some interesting particulars concerning the subsequent life of this +lady were published some time ago. After the trial she decided to go +abroad; but before starting she is said to have married a certain +mysterious individual named Dr. Tudor Hora. With him she lived for +many years in Perth, but few people ever saw her, and the doctor +always declined to divulge his wife's maiden name. He kept a small +surgery, and is said to have been in receipt of about £400 a year from +an unnamed source. Some years after, believing that his wife had been +recognized, he bought a practice at Hotham, near Melbourne, and they +sailed for Australia. Shortly after their arrival, Mrs. Hora left her +husband, and remained absent from Melbourne until his death. Soon +afterwards she married again, but it is said her second union was not +by any means a happy one. She remained unknown, and sought no society. +She was an excellent musician, and spent most of her time in reading +and playing. She had no children, and died at the age of fifty-five. + +Six years after the trial of Madeline Smith a case was tried at the +Chester Assizes, in which a woman named Hewitt or Holt was charged +with poisoning her mother. Although the symptoms of irritant poisoning +were very clearly marked, the country practitioner, who attended +the woman at the time, certified that the cause of her death was +gastro-enteritis. Eleven weeks after she had been buried, the body was +exhumed and examined. An analysis revealed the presence of one hundred +and fifty-four grains of arsenic in the stomach alone. The possession +of a considerable quantity of arsenic was brought home to the accused, +and also direct evidence of its administration, and she was found +guilty. This case is interesting from the fact of proof being obtained +of the administration of so large a quantity of arsenic, and if it had +occurred before the trial of Madeline Smith it might have demolished +her counsel's main line of defence. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE MAYBRICK CASE + + +ON July 31, 1889, one of the most remarkable poisoning cases of modern +times was brought before Mr. Justice Stephen, at the Liverpool Assizes. +The trial, which lasted eight days, excited the keenest interest +throughout the country, especially as the principal actors in the +tragedy were people of good social position. The accused, Florence +Maybrick, wife of a Liverpool merchant, was charged with causing the +death of her husband by administering arsenic to him. + +About the end of April, 1889, Mr. James Maybrick was seized with a +peculiar illness, of which the main symptoms consisted of a rigidity +of the limbs and a general feeling of sickness, which quite prostrated +him, and eventually confined him to bed. The medical man who was +called in to attend him, attributed the cause to extreme irritability +of the stomach and treated him accordingly; but, becoming puzzled by +the persistent sickness and the rapidly increasing weakness of his +patient, a second practitioner was called in consultation. From this +time he grew considerably worse, severer symptoms and diarrhoea set in, +which caused the doctors to suspect the cause was due to some irritant +poison. This was confirmed by the discovery that arsenic had been +placed in a bottle of meat juice that was being administered to the +sick man. Trained nurses were placed in charge, and a close watch kept +on the patient, but without avail, and he died on May 11. + +Suspicions having been aroused, and from statements made to the police, +Mrs. Maybrick was arrested, and eventually charged with the wilful +murder of her husband. From evidence given at the trial, it transpired +that the relations between husband and wife had not been of the most +cordial character for some time. There were frequent disagreements, +and just before Mr. Maybrick was taken ill there had been a serious +quarrel, resulting from his wife's relations with another man. The +lady resented the accusation, and a separation was talked of. The +fatal illness then intervened, during the first portion of which Mrs. +Maybrick nursed her husband; but through a letter addressed to her +lover, which she had given to her nursemaid to post, having been opened +by the latter and handed to Mr. Maybrick's brother, trained nurses +were called in, and the sick man was placed in their charge entirely. +This letter, which formed one of the strongest pieces of evidence +against the accused, revealed the connection between Mrs. Maybrick +and her lover, and contained the intelligence to him that her husband +was "sick unto death." Evidence was also given by the servants, of +flypapers having been seen in process of maceration in water in Mrs. +Maybrick's bedroom. The trained nurses also gave evidence concerning +the suspicious conduct of Mrs. Maybrick, with reference to tampering +with the medicines and meat juice which were to be administered to the +patient. These suspicions culminated in the discovery of arsenic in a +bottle of the meat juice by one of the medical attendants. Considerable +quantities of arsenic were found by the police in the house, including +a packet containing seventy-one grains, mixed with charcoal, and +labelled "Poison for cats." + +The analytical examination was made by Dr. Stevenson and a local +analytical chemist, who discovered traces of arsenic in the intestines, +and .049 of a grain of arsenic in the liver, traces of the poison being +also found in the spleen. Arsenic was also found in various medicine +bottles, handkerchiefs, bottles of glycerine, and in the pocket of a +dressing-gown belonging to the accused. Dr. Stevenson further stated, +he believed the body of the deceased at the time of death probably +contained a fatal dose of arsenic. The scientific evidence adduced +was of a very conflicting character. On one hand, the medical men who +attended the deceased, and the Government analyst, swore they believed +that death was caused from the effects of arsenic; while on the other, +Dr. Tidy, who was called for the defence, as an expert stated that the +quantity of arsenic discovered in the body did not point to the fact +that an overdose had been administered. He believed that death had been +due to gastro-enteritis of some kind or other, but that the symptoms +and post-mortem appearances distinctly pointed away from arsenic as +the cause of death. Dr. MacNamara, ex-president of the Royal College +of Surgeons, Ireland, also stated, that in his opinion Mr. Maybrick's +death had not been caused by arsenical poisoning and that he agreed +with Dr. Tidy that the cause was gastro-enteritis, unconnected with +arsenical poisoning. For the defence it was also urged that the +deceased man had been in the habit of taking arsenic in considerable +quantities for some years. In support of this, witnesses were called +to prove that he had been in the habit of taking a mysterious white +powder, and that while living in America, he frequently purchased +arsenic from chemists who knew he was in the habit of taking it. A +black man, who had been in the service of deceased in America, also +deposed to seeing him take this white powder in beef tea. + +At the close of the evidence for the defence the accused woman +by permission of the judge made the following statement amid the +breathless silence of those in the court:-- + +"My Lord, I wish to make a statement, as well as I can, about a few +facts in connection with the dreadful and crushing charge that has been +made against me--the charge of poisoning my husband and father of my +dear children. I wish principally to refer to the flypaper solution. +The flypapers I bought with the intention of using the solution as +a cosmetic. Before my marriage, and since for many years, I have +been in the habit of using this wash for the face prescribed for me +by Dr. Graves, of Brooklyn. It consisted, I believe, principally of +arsenic, of tincture of benzoin, and elder-flower water, and some other +ingredients. This prescription I lost or mislaid last April, and as +at the time I was suffering from an eruption on the face I thought I +should like to try and make a substitute myself. I was anxious to get +rid of this eruption before I went to a ball on the 30th of that month. +When I had been in Germany, among my young friends there, I had seen +used a solution derived from flypapers soaked in elder-flower water, +and then applied to the face with a handkerchief well soaked in the +solution. I procured the flypapers and used them in the same manner, +and to avoid evaporation I put the solution into a bottle so as to +avoid as much as possible the admission of the air. For this purpose +I put a plate over the flypapers, then a folded towel over that, and +then another towel over that. My mother has been aware for a great +many years that I have used arsenic in solution. I now wish to speak +of his illness. On Thursday night, May 9, after the nurse had given my +husband medicine, I went and sat on the bed beside him. He complained +to me of feeling very sick, very weak, and very restless. He implored +me then again to give him the powder which he had referred to earlier +in the evening, and which I declined to give him. I was over-wrought, +terribly anxious, miserably unhappy, and his evident distress utterly +unnerved me. As he told me the powder would not harm him, and that +I could put it in his food, I then consented. My Lord, I had not +one true or honest friend in the house. I had no one to consult, no +one to advise me. I was deposed from my own position as mistress of +my own house, and from the position of attending on my husband, and +notwithstanding that he was so ill, and notwithstanding the evidence +of the nurses and the servants, I may say that he missed me whenever +I was not with him; whenever I was out of the room he asked for me, +and four days before he died I was not allowed to give him a piece of +ice without its being taken out of my hand. I took the meat juice into +the inner room. On going through the door I spilled some of the liquid +from the bottle, and in order to make up the quantity spilled I put in +a considerable quantity of water. On returning into the room I found +my husband asleep. I placed the bottle on the table near the window. +As he did not ask for anything then, and as I was not anxious to give +him anything, I removed it from the small table where it attracted his +attention and put it on the washstand where he could not see it. There +I left it. Until Tuesday, May 14, the Tuesday after my husband's death, +till a few moments before the terrible charge was made against me, no +one in that house had informed me of the fact that a death certificate +had been refused--but of course the post-mortem examination had taken +place--or that there was any reason to suppose that my husband had died +from other than natural causes. It was only when a witness alluded to +the presence of arsenic in the meat juice that I was made aware of the +nature of the powder my husband had been taking. In conclusion, I only +wish to say that for the love of our children, and for the sake of +their future, a perfect reconciliation had taken place between us, and +on the day before his death I made a full and free confession to him." + +Mrs. Maybrick's counsel, Sir Charles Russell, made a most brilliant and +eloquent appeal in her defence. He pointed out that at the time the +black shadow which could never be dispelled passed over the life of the +accused woman, her husband was in the habit of drugging himself. She +was deposed from her position as mistress of her own home, and pointed +out as an object of suspicion. + +If it had not been for the act of infidelity on her part, there would +be no motive assigned in the case, and surely there was a wide chasm +between the grave moral guilt of unfaithfulness and the criminal +guilt involved in the deliberate plotting by such wicked means of +the felonious death of her husband. There were two questions to be +answered: Was there clear, safe, and satisfactory equivocal proof, +either that death was in fact caused by arsenical poisoning, or that +the accused woman administered that poison if to the poison the death +of her husband was due? The jury, however, returned a verdict of +"Guilty," and Florence Maybrick was sentenced to death. The agitation +and excitement throughout the country which followed, ending in a +respite being granted and the sentence being commuted to one of penal +servitude for life, will be well remembered. + +Whether Florence Maybrick did actually administer arsenic to her +husband _with intent to kill him_, she alone can tell. On her own +confession she admitted having given him a certain _white powder_ for +which he craved, of the nature of which she said she was ignorant. +There can be no doubt _this powder was arsenic_. If she did not +know the powder was arsenic, and did not give it with intent to +take his life, which many still believe, then surely such a web of +circumstantial evidence has never before been woven round one accused +of having committed a terrible crime. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +ABOUT ACONITE AND HEMLOCK + + +ACONITE, or monk's-hood, whose purple flower, shaped like a helmet or +monk's hood, is a familiar feature in our country gardens, ranks as one +of the most ancient of vegetable poisons. The name aconite was derived +from Akon, a city of Heraclea, and the plant, owing to its deadly +nature, was supposed by the early Greeks to have originated from the +foam of the dog Cerberus. Aconite was largely used as an arrow poison +by the ancients, and also employed for that purpose by the Chinese +and the wild hill tribes of India. It was used by the ancient Greeks +and Romans to destroy life, and they believed they could cause death +to take place at a certain time by regulating the dose of poison. +Thus Theophrastus writes: "The ordering of this poison was different +according as it was designed to kill in two or three months, or a +year." The poison cup of the ancients was probably a compound, of +which hemlock and aconite were the chief ingredients. This was used +for carrying out the criminal death penalty, and also for purposes +of suicide when so desired. A curious relic of this ancient custom +was practised at Marseilles, where a poison was kept by the public +authorities of which hemlock was an ingredient. A dose of this was +allowed by the magistrates "to any one who could show a sufficient +reason why he should deserve death." Valerius Maximus observes, "This +custom came from Greece, particularly from the Island of Ceos, where I +saw an example of it in a woman of great quality who, having lived very +happy ninety years, obtained leave to die this way, lest, by living +longer, she should happen to see a change of her good fortune." + +Theophrastus states, "Thrasyas, a great physician, invented a +composition which would cause death without any pain, and it was +prepared with the juice of hemlock and poppy together, and did the +business in a small dose." + +When vice and dissipation were at their height in Rome, suicide was +most common, and it was often met with among the Greeks, after they +had been contaminated by Roman manners and customs. When the Greeks +and Romans recognised the impossibility of suppressing suicide, they +decided to establish tribunals, whose duty it should be to hear the +applications of those persons who wished to die. If the applicant +succeeded in showing what the tribunal considered good cause for +quitting life his prayer was granted, and he destroyed himself under +the authority of the court. In some instances the court not only +sanctioned the suicide, but supplied the means of self-destruction in +the shape of a decoction of aconite and hemlock. If any one applied +for permission to end his life and was refused, and in defiance of the +decision committed suicide, his act was illegal. The Romans in such +cases confiscated the property of the deceased; the Greeks held his +memory as dishonoured, and treated his body with indignity. + +The aconite now used in medicine is derived from the _Aconitum +napellus_, chiefly grown in Britain; it is also found in the +mountainous districts of the temperate parts of the northern +hemisphere. It grows on the Alps, the Pyrenees, the mountains of +Germany and Austria, and also in Denmark and Sweden. On the Himalayas +it is found at 10,000 to 16,000 feet above the sea level. Both the +root and the leaves are used medicinally. The tap root of the aconite +has been frequently eaten in mistake for horse-radish with fatal +results. Aconite contains several active principles, all of which are +powerful poisons. The chief of these is aconitine--probably the most +deadly poison known--the fiftieth part of a grain of which has nearly +caused death. Indian aconite, known as _Bish_, is chiefly derived +from _Aconitum ferox_--a native of high altitude in the Himalaya +regions--and is mentioned by the Persian physician, Alheroi, in the +tenth century, also by many early Arabian writers on medicine. Isa +Ben Ali pronounced it to be the most rapid of deadly poisons, and +describes the symptoms with tolerable correctness. The chief symptoms +of poisoning by aconite are heat, numbness and tingling in the mouth +and throat, giddiness, and loss of muscular power. The pupils become +dilated, the skin cold, and pulse feeble, with oppressed breathing, +and dread of approaching death. Finally, numbness and paralysis come +on, rapidly followed by death in a few sudden gasps. The poison being +extremely rapid in effect, immediate action is absolutely necessary in +order to save life. + +Several species of aconite grow plentifully in India, where it has been +used for centuries. It is found growing at an elevation of 10,000 feet +above the level of the sea, and among other places in the Singalilas, +a mountain range which forms the watershed boundary between Nepal +and British territory, northwest of Darjiling. _Aconitum palmatum_ +is collected in abundance at Tongloo, the southern termination of +the Singalilas; but _A. napellus_, which is more poisonous, requires +a higher elevation in which to thrive. The natives, especially the +hill tribes, take aconite in the crude state as a remedy for various +ailments, and every Bhotiah has a few dried roots put away in some +secure corner of his hut. The method of collecting is thus described. +"Early in October, when the aconite root has matured, one of the +leading men of the village organises a party composed of both sexes. +He, for the time, becomes their leader, settles all disputes and +quarrels while out in camp, and, while keeping an account of the +general expenses, supplies to each, all necessaries in the way of +food. Before starting, he has to obtain a 'permit' from the Forest +Department, the charge for which is 15 rupees. Carefully wrapping the +pass up in a rag, and placing it in his network bag of valuables, he +collects his band together, and they set out for the higher ranges. +As soon as they arrive at the slopes, where aconite is growing +plentifully, they at once set to work to build bamboo huts about five +feet high, roofing them with leaves. After the morning meal they all +set off for the lower slopes, each with basket and spade over his +shoulder. But before the actual work is commenced, a ceremony has to +be performed. The Bhotiahs, like the Nepalese, have a belief that the +presiding demon of the hills imprisons evil spirits in the aconite +plant, which fly out as soon as it is dug up and inflict dire calamity +on the digger. In order, therefore, to counteract this, every morning, +before the digging commences, the lama or headman, standing on a +convenient hill with his followers around him, makes a fire and burns +some _dhuna_, a native resin, then, inserting two fingers in his mouth, +blows several shrill whistles. All wait in breathless silence till an +answering whistle is heard, which may be an echo or the cry of some +bird. Whatever it may be, it is taken as the dying dirge of the evil +spirits, and digging begins at once. + +"The roots, after being shaken from the soil, are placed in the +baskets, which on return to the encampment are emptied and formed into +heaps, and covered with bamboo leaves to protect them from the frost. +During the day they are spread out in the sun to dry. When a sufficient +quantity has been collected and dried thus, bamboo frames are fixed +up with a fire below, on which the aconite is placed when the flame +has died out. The one who looks after this drying process has a cloth +tied round his head covering the nose, as the constant inhalation of +the fumes causes a feeling of heaviness and dizziness in the head. +This process is carried on three or four days until the roots are +dried. When sufficient have been collected and dried, they are packed +in baskets. These are shouldered, and with their cooking utensils +and blankets on the top, the whole band set their faces homeward. On +arrival at the commercial centre at the termination of their march +the results of the expedition are soon sold, and each man is handed +his share of the profits, according to the amount of aconite he has +collected." + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE CASE OF DR. LAMSON + + +THE only case on record in which the active principle of aconite has +been used for the purpose of criminal poisoning is that of Dr. Lamson, +who suffered the extreme penalty of the law for administering the drug +to Percy Malcolm John, and thereby causing his death. The story is +remarkable for the cold-blooded way in which the murder was carried +out. George Henry Lamson, a surgeon, in impecunious circumstances, +had a reversionary interest through his wife in a sum of £1,500, +which would come to him on the death of his brother-in-law, Percy +Malcolm John. The latter, a sickly youth of eighteen years of age, +was paralysed in his lower limbs from old-standing spinal disease. +On November 27, 1881, Lamson purchased two grains of aconitine, and +shortly afterwards went down to the school where the lad had been +placed as a boarder, and had an interview with him in the presence of +the headmaster, professing at the same time a kindly interest in the +lad and his health. During the interview he produced some gelatine +capsules, one of which he filled with a white powder, presumed to be +sugar, and directly after seeing his brother-in-law swallow it, he +took his departure. Within a quarter of an hour John became unwell, +saying he felt the same as when Lamson had given him a quinine pill on +a former occasion. Violent vomiting soon set in, and he became unable +to swallow. This was rapidly followed by delirium, and in three hours +and three-quarters death ensued. Suspicion fell on Lamson, and he was +arrested shortly afterwards, and charged with the murder of John. + +According to evidence at the trial, it is probable that Lamson had made +several previous attempts on the lad's life, with aconitine, in the +form of pills and powders, which he had given him under the pretence +of prescribing for his ailments. The money to which he was entitled +on the death of John doubtless supplied the motive for the crime. The +proof of the purchase of aconitine by the prisoner, and the evidence +of the post-mortem examination, pointed to the cause of death, and +the presence of aconitine was amply proved by the clinical and other +tests patiently and carefully applied by the analyst. The difficulty +of proving the presence of a rare vegetable alkaloid in the body +after death was, no doubt, duly considered by Lamson when he fixed on +aconitine as the medium for his evil design; but science proved the +master of the criminal, and the evidence of the instrument by which the +crime was committed was indisputably proved. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE BRAVO MYSTERY + + +ANTIMONY, like arsenic, to which in many ways it is closely allied, +claims also to be ranked among the historic poisons. It was known and +used by the ancient Greek and Roman physicians as a medicinal agent, +and for certain purposes it is, perhaps, unequalled at the present +time. The metal is a brittle, silvery and very brilliant substance, in +the form of plates and crystals, and is largely used in the arts as an +alloy, the most common form being Britannia metal, which is a compound +of antimony, lead, and tin. The old _Poculo emetica_ or everlasting +emetic cups, were made of antimony. It is found abundantly in nature +as a sulphide, also combined with various metals, and with quartz and +limestone. From these it is separated by fusion, the heavy metallic +portion sinking by the law of gravity, and abandoning the impurities +which remain on the surface of the molten mass. Arsenic is a frequent +contamination of commercial antimony, and it is very important that it +should be eliminated before antimony is prepared for use in medicine. + +Poisoning by tartarated antimony causes a peculiar metallic taste in +the mouth, which is speedily followed by vomiting, burning heat, pains +in the stomach and purging, difficulty in swallowing, thirst, cramp, +cold perspirations, and great debility. In smaller doses it produces +these effects in a mitigated form, which causes symptoms somewhat +similar to natural disease, such as distaste for food, nausea, and loss +of muscular power. For this reason, doubtless, it has been a favourite +medium with many criminal poisoners, including Dove, Smethurst, +Pritchard, and others; but there is no trial in which antimony has +figured that caused more interest than the "Bravo Mystery" of 1876. + +The story of this case begins with the marriage of Mr. Bravo, a young +barrister of about thirty years of age, to Mrs. Ricardo, who was then +a wealthy widow and a lady of considerable personal attractions. +After the marriage, which followed a very short acquaintance, the +couple went to reside at Balham. According to a statement made by +Mrs. Bravo, she informed her husband before the marriage of a former +lover, and there is little doubt that it rankled in Mr. Bravo's mind, +and he frequently taunted his wife with the fact. He was a strong, +healthy, and temperate man, but appears to have been both weak and +vain in character. On Tuesday, April 18, 1876, after breakfast at his +own house at Balham, he drove with his wife into town. On their way, +a very unpleasant discussion took place. Arriving in town, he had +a Turkish bath, lunched with a relative of his wife at St. James's +Restaurant, and walked on his way home to Victoria Station with a +friend and fellow-barrister, whom he asked out for the following day. +He arrived back home about half-past four. Shortly after his return, +Mr. Bravo went out for a ride, in the course of which his horse bolted +and carried him a long distance, and he got back to his home very tired +and exhausted. At half-past six he was noticed leaning forward on his +chair, looking ill, and with his head hanging down. He ordered a hot +bath, and when getting into it he cried out aloud with pain, putting +his hand to his side. The bath did not appear to relieve him much, and +he seemed to be suffering pain all through dinner, but appeared to +avoid attracting the attention of his wife and Mrs. Cox, her companion, +who dined with him. + +The food provided during the dinner was partaken of more or less in +common by all three, but this was not the case as regards the wine. +Mr. Bravo drank Burgundy, only, while Mrs. Bravo and Mrs. Cox drank +sherry and Marsala. The wine drunk by Mr. Bravo had been decanted by +the butler some time before dinner; how long he could not say, but he +noticed nothing unusual with it. + +The wine was of good quality, and Mr. Bravo, who was something of a +connoisseur of wine, remarked nothing peculiar in its taste, but drank +it as usual. If he had Burgundy for luncheon he finished the bottle +at dinner; but if not, as on the day in question, the remains of the +bottle were put away in an unlocked cellaret in the dining-room. The +butler could not remember whether any Burgundy was left on this day or +not; but, however, none was discovered. + +This cellaret was opened at least twice subsequently to this, and +prior to Mr. Bravo's illness, once by Mrs. Cox, and once by the maid. + +Mr. Bravo seems to have eaten a good dinner, although he was evidently +not himself from some cause or other. It was said he was suffering from +toothache or neuralgia, and had just received a letter that had given +him some annoyance. + +The dinner lasted till past eight o'clock, after which the party +adjourned to the morning-room, where conversation continued up to about +nine o'clock. + +Mrs. Bravo and Mrs. Cox then retired upstairs, leaving Mr. Bravo alone, +and Mrs. Cox went to fetch Mrs. Bravo some wine and water from the +dining-room. + +Mrs. Bravo remained in her room and prepared for bed, and drank the +wine and water brought to her by Mrs. Cox, who remained with her. + +The housemaid, on taking some hot water to the ladies' room, as was her +usual custom at half-past nine, was asked by Mrs. Bravo to bring her +some more Marsala in the glass that had contained the wine and water. +On her way downstairs to the dining-room, the girl met her master at +the foot of the stairs. He looked "queer" and very strange in the face, +but did not appear to be in pain, according to her statement. He +looked twice at her, yet did not speak, though it was his custom, but +passed on. + +Mr. Bravo was alone after the departure of his wife and Mrs. Cox, until +the time when he passed the housemaid at the foot of the stairs. He +entered his wife's dressing-room, and the maid Mrs. Bravo's bedroom. In +the dressing-room, according to Mrs. Cox's statement, Mr. Bravo spoke +to his wife in French, with reference to the wine. This had frequently +been the subject of unpleasant remarks before; but Mrs. Bravo had no +recollection of the conversation on this occasion. + +After leaving his wife in her room, Mr. Bravo went to his own bedroom +and closed the door. The maid left Mrs. Bravo's bedroom and met her +mistress in the passage partially undressed and on her way to bed. Mrs. +Bravo and Mrs. Cox entered their bedrooms, and the former drank her +Marsala and went to bed. + +In about a quarter of an hour Mr. Bravo's bedroom door was heard to +open, and he shouted out, "Florence! Florence! Hot water." The maid +ran into Mrs. Bravo's room, calling out that Mr. Bravo was ill. Mrs. +Cox, who had not yet undressed, rose hastily and ran to his room. She +found him standing in his night-gown at the open window, apparently +vomiting, and this the maid also saw. Mrs. Cox further stated that +Mr. Bravo said to her, "I have taken poison. Don't tell Florence" +(alluding to his wife); and to this confession of having taken poison +on the part of Mr. Bravo, Mrs. Cox adhered. After this, Mr. Bravo was +again very sick, and some hot water was brought by the maid. After the +vomiting he sank on the floor and became insensible, and remained so +for some hours. Mrs. Cox tried to raise him, and got some mustard and +water, but he could not swallow it. She then applied mustard to his +feet, and coffee was procured, but he was also unable to swallow that. +Meanwhile a doctor, who had attended Mrs. Bravo, and who lived at some +distance, was sent for. Mrs. Bravo, who was aroused from sleep by the +maid, and who seems to have been greatly excited, insisted on a nearer +practitioner being sent for, and in a short time a medical man, living +close by, arrived on the scene. The doctor found Mr. Bravo sitting +or lying on a chair, completely unconscious, and the heart's action +almost suspended. He had him laid on the bed, and then administered +some hot brandy and water, but was unable to get him to swallow it. In +about half an hour another medical man arrived, and was met by Mrs. +Cox, who said she was sure Mr. Bravo had taken chloroform. Both doctors +came to the conclusion that the patient was in a dangerous state, and +endeavoured to administer restoratives. Realizing the critical nature +of the case, Dr. George Johnson, of King's College Hospital, was sent +for. Meanwhile, Mr. Bravo was again seized with vomiting, mostly blood, +and the doctors came to the conclusion he was suffering from some +irritant poison. About three o'clock he became conscious and able to be +questioned. He was at once asked, "What have you taken?" But from first +to last he persisted in declaring, in the most solemn manner, that +he had taken nothing except some laudanum for toothache. In reply to +other questions, asking him if there were any poisons about the house, +he replied there was only the laudanum and chloroform for toothache, +some Condy's Fluid, and "rat poison in the stable." Mr. Bravo did not +lose consciousness again until the time of his death, which occurred +fifty-five and a half hours after he was first taken ill. + +At an early period his bedroom was searched, but nothing was found but +the laudanum bottle, and a little chloroform and camphor liniment which +had been brought from another room. There were no remains of any solid +poison in paper, glass, or tumbler, and nothing to indicate any poison +had been taken. The post-mortem examination showed evidence of great +gastric irritation, extending downwards, but there was no appearance of +any disease in the body, or inflammation, congestion, or ulceration. +It was left therefore to the chemical examination to show what was +the irritating substance which had been introduced into the body, and +supply a key to part of the mystery. The matters which had been vomited +in the early stage of Mr. Bravo's illness had been thrown away; but, +singular to relate, on examination of the leads of the house beneath +the bedroom window, some portion of the matter was found undisturbed, +although much rain had fallen and the greater part must have been +washed away. This was carefully collected and handed to Professor +Redwood for analysis. From this matter he extracted a large amount of +antimony. Antimony was also discovered in the liver and other parts of +the body, and it was concluded that altogether nearly forty grains of +this poison must have been swallowed by the unfortunate man. How he +came to swallow this enormous dose, whether the design was homicidal or +suicidal, there was not the slightest evidence to show, or where the +antimony was obtained. The whole affair was shrouded in mystery, and a +mystery it remains. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE CASE OF DR. PRITCHARD + + +THE remarkable case of Dr. E. W. Pritchard of Glasgow, who was arrested +and charged with murdering his wife and mother-in-law in that city in +the year 1865, excited great interest at the time. The respectable +position occupied by the accused man in society in Glasgow, and the +practice as a physician which he had been enabled to attain in the +course of his six years' residence there, awakened an unusual degree +of attention in the public mind when the fact of his apprehension +became known. The excitement was strengthened by the mystery invariably +attached to the prosecution of all criminal inquiries in Scotland. + +It appears that for some time previous to her decease, Mrs. Pritchard +had been in a delicate state of heath, and her mother, Mrs. Taylor, +wife of Mr. Taylor, a silk weaver of Edinburgh, had gone to Glasgow +to nurse her during her illness. Mrs. Taylor took up her abode in the +house of Dr. Pritchard, and ministered to her daughter's comfort; but +while so engaged she became ill, and died suddenly, about three weeks +previous to the day on which the accused man was apprehended. The +cause of death was assigned to apoplexy, and as Mrs. Taylor was about +seventy years of age no public attention was awakened, and the body was +conveyed to Edinburgh and buried in the Grange Cemetery. + +Circumstances closely following on this, however, awakened grave +suspicions. Mrs. Pritchard died shortly after her mother, and a +report was circulated that she had succumbed to gastric fever. The +family grave at the Grange was fixed on as the place of interment, +and arrangements were made for the funeral without delay. The body +was taken to Edinburgh by rail, and Dr. Pritchard accompanied it to +the house of his father-in-law, where it was to await interment. The +deaths of the two ladies occurring within so short an interval of each +other, coupled with certain hints which they had received, set the +police on the alert, and while Dr. Pritchard was absent in Edinburgh +they instituted inquiries, which led to a warrant being issued for his +apprehension. On his return to Glasgow, previous to the day fixed for +the funeral, he was arrested at the railway station in Queen Street and +conveyed to the police offices. + +Meanwhile the authorities had transmitted to Edinburgh information +of what had been done, and at the same time had issued a warrant for +a post-mortem examination of the body of Mrs. Pritchard. This was +entrusted to Professor Douglas Maclagan, assisted by Drs. Arthur Gamgee +and Littlejohn. The result of the post-mortem proved that death had not +resulted from natural causes, and a subsequent examination disclosed +the presence of minute particles of antimony in the liver. + +The case now assumed a grave and mysterious aspect, and the authorities +resolved to carry the investigations further. The next step was to +order the exhumation of the body of Mrs. Taylor. This having been +effected, the internal organs were submitted to analysis by Professor +Maclagan, Dr. Littlejohn, and Professor Penny of Glasgow, who, after a +protracted examination, reported that the death of Mrs. Taylor, like +that of her daughter, was due to poisoning by antimony. On these facts +being elicited, Dr. Pritchard was fully committed on the charge of +murdering Jane Taylor his mother-in-law and Mary Jane Pritchard his +wife. + +The trial opened on July 3, 1865, at the High Court of Justiciary, +Edinburgh, before the Lord Justice-Clerk, Lord Ardmillan, and Lord +Jervis-woode, the Solicitor-General prosecuting for the Crown, while +the prisoner was defended by Messrs. A. R. Clark, Watson, and Brand. + +Evidence was given that Mrs. Pritchard was first taken ill in the +October of 1864, with constant vomiting, often accompanied by severe +cramp. + +After being treated by her husband for some time, and getting no +better, at her own request a Dr. Gairdner was called in, and her +mother, Mrs. Taylor, came from Edinburgh to nurse her. + +While on this visit to her daughter, Mrs. Taylor, on February 24, +complained of feeling unwell. The next day she was found insensible, +sitting on her chair in her daughter's room, and died the same night. +From this time Mrs. Pritchard got gradually worse, and died within +three weeks afterwards. + +Mary McLeod, a girl who had been in the service of the prisoner, +admitted that he had familiar relations with her, and that this fact +was known to Mrs. Pritchard. + +The doctor had also made her presents, and told her he would marry her +if his wife died. + +Dr. Paterson, a medical practitioner of Glasgow, who was called in to +see Mrs. Taylor, stated Pritchard told him the old lady was in the +habit of taking Batley's solution of opium, and a few days before her +death, she had purchased a half-pound bottle. When he saw her, he was +convinced her symptoms betokened that she was under the depressing +influence of antimony, and not opium. He therefore refused to give a +certificate of her death. + +Pritchard eventually signed the certificate himself, stating the +primary cause of death had been paralysis and the secondary cause +apoplexy. He further certified Mrs. Pritchard's death as due to gastric +fever. + +It was proved on the evidence of two chemists, that Pritchard was in +the habit of purchasing tartarated antimony in large quantities, and +also Fleming's tincture of aconite. + +Dr. Maclagan, professor of medical jurisprudence in the University +of Edinburgh, was then called to give the result of the chemical +examination of the various organs of the body of Mrs. Pritchard, which +had been retained for analysis. Antimony, corresponding to one-fourth +of a grain of tartar emetic, was found in the urine, in small +quantities in the bile and blood, and as much as four grains in the +whole liver. Evidence of the presence of antimony was also found in the +spleen, kidney, muscular substance of the heart, coats of the stomach +and rectum, the brain and uterus. + +Antimony was also detected in various stains on linen and articles of +clothing, which had been worn by Mrs. Pritchard during her illness. + +From these results Dr. Maclagan concluded that Mrs. Pritchard had taken +a large quantity of antimony in the form of tartar emetic, which caused +her death, and that from the extent to which the whole organs and +fluids of the body were impregnated with the drug, it must have been +given in repeated doses up to within a few hours of her decease. + +The result of the chemical examination of the various organs of the +body of Mrs. Taylor, which was exhumed for this purpose, revealed +the presence of ·279, or a little more than a quarter of a grain of +antimony in the contents of the stomach. Antimony was also found in the +blood, and 1·151 grain was recovered from 1,000 grains of the liver. + +Dr. Penny, who made an independent analysis, found distinct evidence of +antimony in the liver, spleen, kidney, brain, heart, blood, and rectum, +but no trace of morphine or aconite. He also came to the conclusion +that Mrs Pritchard's death had resulted from the effects of antimony. + +Antimony was found mixed with tapioca contained in a packet discovered +in the house, also in a bottle containing Batley's solution of opium +found in the prisoner's surgery. + +Dr. Littlejohn, surgeon to the Edinburgh police, who was present at +the post-mortem examination of both women, gave his opinion that Mrs. +Pritchard's death had been due to the administration of antimony in +small quantities, and that continuously. In Mrs. Taylor's case he +believed some strong narcotic poison had been administered with the +antimony. + +This opinion was further endorsed by Dr. Paterson. Evidence was +offered, that Pritchard had been in the habit of purchasing large +quantities of Batley's solution of opium, which the manufacturers +swore contained no antimony. For the defence it was urged, that there +was no proof whatever that poison had had been administered by the +prisoner, who had always lived on affectionate terms with his wife, and +that the motive suggested was of the most trifling nature; that the +stronger suspicion pointed to the maidservant Mary McLeod, on whose +uncorroborated statements the chief evidence against the prisoner lay. +The senior counsel for the prisoner (Mr. Clark) concluded his address +by stating that the Crown had admitted there were but two persons who +could have committed the crime--the prisoner, and Mary M'Leod. Mary +M'Leod's hand had been found in connexion with every one of the acts +in which poison was said to have been administered in the food. The +case against the prisoner seemed to depend on a series of suspicions +and probabilities, and not upon legal proof; and upon these grounds he +asked a verdict of acquittal. + +The "summing up" of the Lord Justice-Clerk occupied three hours and +twenty minutes, on the conclusion of which the jury retired to consider +their verdict. After an absence of fifty-five minutes they returned +with the following verdict--"The jury unanimously find the prisoner +guilty of both charges as libelled." + +Dr. Pritchard was thereupon sentenced to death, and was executed at +Glasgow on July 28, 1865. + +There can be no doubt that he fully deserved his terrible doom. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE PIMLICO MYSTERY + + +CHLOROFORM belongs to the class of neurotic poisons which act on the +brain, and produce loss of sensation. It is a colourless, heavy, and +volatile liquid, having a peculiar ethereal odour which cannot be +easily mistaken, and a sweet pungent taste when diluted. For producing +insensibility it requires very careful and experienced administration, +and more lives have been lost by carelessness in using, than from the +noxious character of the drug. + +Many stories are related of the peculiar hallucinations and remarks +made by patients while under, or partially under the influence of +chloroform. The following has the merit of being true:-- + +"Doctor (_who has just administered chloroform to a lady_): 'Nurse, +some 1 in 1,000, if you please.' + +"Patient (_under the anæsthetic_): 'Ah! that's my Jack. He's one in a +thousand. Dear Jack!'" + +The stories that crop up from time to time, of persons who have been +rendered unconscious by simply waving a chloroformed handkerchief +before the face, usually emanate from the fertile brain of some +imaginative journalist. As an internal poison chloroform has rarely +been used, although there are many cases on record where persons have +accustomed themselves to drinking chloroform, until they have been able +to swallow it in very large quantities. The one recorded instance in +which it was alleged to have been used for the criminal destruction of +life was in the remarkable case known as the "Pimlico Mystery." + +The trial of Adelaide Bartlett for the wilful murder of her husband by +administering chloroform to him, was held before Mr. Justice Wills at +the Central Criminal Court on April 12, 1886, and lasted for six days. +The case attracted considerable attention and interest throughout, +which culminated in a dramatic scene at the close, and the acquittal +of the accused woman. The strange relations which existed between Mrs. +Bartlett and her husband, with whose murder she was charged, the +yet more strange relations between her and the man who in the first +instance was included in the accusation, together with the exceptional +circumstances of his acquittal, and his immediate appearance in the +witness box formed a case of peculiar dramatic interest. Thomas Edwin +Bartlett was a grocer, having several shops in the suburbs of London, +and at the time of his death was forty years of age. In 1875 he married +a Frenchwoman, Adelaide Blanche de la Tremoille, who was a native +of Orleans, and whom he met at the house of his brother, she being +at that time about twenty years of age. After the marriage she went +to a boarding-school at Stoke Newington, and lived with her husband +only during the vacation. At a later period she went to a convent +school in Belgium, where she remained for some eighteen months, after +which she rejoined her husband, and settled down to live in London. +During Christmas of 1881 she gave birth to a stillborn child, which so +affected her that she came to the resolution that she would have no +more children. Some four years later Bartlett and his wife made the +acquaintance of George Dyson, a young Wesleyan minister, who soon +became on terms of great social intimacy with them, visiting and dining +with them frequently. The admiration for their friend seems to have +been common to both husband and wife. In 1885 Edwin Bartlett made a +will, leaving all he possessed to his wife, and making Mr. Dyson and +his solicitors his executors. Shortly afterwards the couple removed +to furnished apartments in Claverton Street, Pimlico, where they +apparently lived on good terms, and were still frequently visited by +their friend Mr. Dyson. + +On December 10, in the same year, Mr. Bartlett became seriously ill. +Peculiar symptoms developed, which excited the curiosity and surprise +of the medical man called in to attend him. The state of his gums +suggested to the doctor that the illness was due to mercury, which in +some way was being taken or administered to him, and he complained +of nervous depression and sleeplessness. He appeared to be gradually +recovering from this, but on December 19, Mr. Bartlett himself +suggested that a second doctor should be called in, lest, as he put +it, "his friends should suspect, if anything happened to him, that +his wife was poisoning him." The cause for this was put down to some +ill-feeling which had formerly existed between Mrs. Bartlett and her +husband's father. A second practitioner, therefore, was called in, and +the patient, on December 26, was practically well and went out for a +drive though still weak. + +The next day Mrs. Bartlett asked Mr. Dyson, who was constantly calling +at the house, to procure for her a considerable quantity of chloroform, +which she told him she had used before with good effect on her husband +for some internal ailment of long standing, and that this internal +affliction had upon previous occasions given him paroxysms. She further +expressed apparently some belief that he might die suddenly in one of +these attacks. Dyson seems meekly to have yielded to her request, and +obtained three different lots of chloroform, in all six ounces, from +various chemists, giving the reason, that he required it for taking out +grease spots, and placed it all together in one bottle. Two days after +he met Mrs. Bartlett on the Embankment and handed her the chloroform. +During his illness, Mr. Bartlett had slept on a camp bedstead in the +front drawing-room, his wife occupying a sofa in the same room. On +December 31 he was apparently quite well again, and about half-past ten +o'clock in the evening, Mrs. Bartlett told the servant she required +nothing else and retired with her husband for the night. At four +o'clock in the morning the house was aroused by Mrs. Bartlett, and it +was discovered her husband was dead in bed. + +The statement made by the lady was, that when her husband had settled +for the night she sat down at the foot of the bed; that her hand was +resting upon his feet; that she dozed off in her chair; she awoke with +a sensation of cramp, and was horrified to find her husband's feet were +deathly cold. She tried to pour some brandy down his throat, and she +found he was dead. She then aroused the household. The first person who +entered the room was the landlord, who noticed a peculiar smell that +reminded him of chloric ether. The doctor was promptly sent for, but +from external examination could find nothing to account for death. The +only bottle found was one that contained a drop or two of chlorodyne. +A post-mortem examination was held, and the stomach showed evidence +of having contained a considerable quantity of chloroform. There was +no internal disease or growth, the organs being quite healthy, and +nothing to account for death beyond the chloroform, which the medical +men concluded must have been the cause of death. + +The coroner's inquiry resulted in a verdict of wilful murder against +Adelaide Bartlett and George Dyson, and they were both arrested. At the +trial, the Crown decided to offer no evidence against Dyson, and, after +being indicted and pleading "Not guilty," he was discharged by the +judge to be called as a witness. + +A brilliant array of counsel were engaged on the case, the late +Lord Chief Justice, then Sir Charles Russell, having charge of the +prosecution, while the defence of Mrs. Bartlett was entrusted to Sir +Edward Clark, and that of Mr. Dyson to Mr. Lockwood. + +Dyson's examination occupied nearly the whole of the second day, during +which he detailed the form of the intimacy between Mrs. Bartlett and +himself; how he procured the chloroform and disposed of the bottles +after hearing the result of the post-mortem, by throwing them away on +Wandsworth Common while on his way to preach at Tooting. He was in the +habit of kissing Mrs. Bartlett, and usually called her Adelaide. He +had had conversations with Mr. Bartlett on the subject of marriage, +and had heard him express the opinion that a man should have two wives, +one to look after the household duties, and another to be a companion +and confidante. He had told Mr. Bartlett he was becoming attached to +his wife, but the latter seemed to encourage it, and asked him to +continue the intimacy. He did not mention the matter of having procured +the chloroform for Mrs. Bartlett until he had heard the result of the +post-mortem. + +The medical man called in to attend Mr. Bartlett during his illness, +described the condition in which he found him, and his recovery +from the illness. He also gave an account of a very extraordinary +statement, which was made to him by Mrs. Bartlett after the death of +her husband. It was as follows. At the age of sixteen years she was +selected by Mr. Bartlett as a wife for companionship only, and for whom +no carnal feeling should be entertained. The marriage compact was, +that they should live together simply as loving friends. This rule was +faithfully observed for about six years of their married life, and then +only broken at her earnest and repeated entreaty that she should be +permitted to be really a wife and a mother. The child was still-born, +and from that time the two lived together, but their relations were +not those of matrimony. Her husband showed great affection for her +of an ultra-platonic kind, and encouraged her to pursue studies of +various kinds, which she did to please him. He affected to admire +her, and liked to surround her with male acquaintances, and enjoy +their attentions to her. Then they became acquainted with Dyson. Her +husband conceived a great liking for him, and threw them together. He +requested them to kiss in his presence and seemed to enjoy it, and gave +her to understand that he had "given her" to Mr. Dyson. As her husband +gradually recovered from his illness he expressed a wish that they +should resume the ordinary relations of man and wife, but she resented +it. She therefore sought for some means to prevent his desire, and for +this purpose she asked Dyson to procure the chloroform. + +On the night of the death, some conversation of this kind had taken +place between them, and when he was in bed she brought the bottle +of chloroform and gave it to him, informing him of her intention to +sprinkle some upon a handkerchief and wave it in his face, thinking +that thereby he would go peacefully to sleep. He looked at the bottle +and placed it by the side of the low bed, then turning over on his side +apparently went to sleep. She fell asleep also, sitting at the foot of +the bed, with her arm round his foot; she heard him snoring, then woke +again, and found he was dead. + +Dr. Stevenson, who made the analysis, gave evidence as to finding +eleven and a quarter grains of pure chloroform in the stomach of +the deceased, but, judging from the time that had elapsed and the +very volatile nature of the liquid, a large quantity must have been +swallowed. No other poisons were found. The jury, after deliberating +nearly two hours, returned a verdict of "Not guilty," thus making +another addition to the list of unsolved poisoning mysteries. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +THE RUGELEY MYSTERY + + +STRYCHNINE may very justly be termed a deadly poison. It is one of the +active principles extracted from nux vomica, the singular disk-like +seed of the _Strychnos nux vomica_, a tree indigenous to most parts +of India, Burmah, Northern Australia, and other countries. Nux vomica +was unknown to the ancients, and is said to have been introduced into +medicine by the Arabians, but there is very little reliable record +of it until the seventeenth century, when the seeds were used for +poisoning animals and birds. Strychnine was discovered in 1818 by +Pelletier and Carenton, and was first extracted from St. Ignatius' +bean, in which it is present to the extent of about 1·5 per cent. Very +soon afterwards it was extracted from nux vomica, which, being very +plentiful, is now the chief source of the drug. It is extremely bitter +in taste, and may be distinctly detected in a solution containing no +more than one-six-hundred-thousandth part. For a considerable time +after its discovery, the detection of strychnine in the body after +death was a matter of great uncertainty, especially when only a small +quantity had been administered; but now it is possible to detect the +presence of one-five-thousandth part of a grain, and that even after +some period has elapsed. It has been used for criminal purposes by +several notorious poisoners, notably by Dove, Palmer, and Cream, but +the symptoms produced are so marked and its presence clearly indicated, +that detection now is almost certain. + +Among the most celebrated trials of this century was that of Dr. +Palmer, who was charged with the wilful murder of John Parsons Cook, at +Rugeley, in 1855. A special Act of Parliament was passed in order to +have this case tried in London, where it was brought before Lord Chief +Justice Campbell, Mr. Baron Alderson, and Mr. Justice Cresswell, at the +Central Criminal Court, on May 14, 1856. The Attorney General, Mr. E. +James, Q.C., with several other counsel, conducted the prosecution, and +Palmer was defended by Mr. Serjeant Shee, Messrs. Grove, Q.C., Gray, +and Kenealy. + +The accused man was a country doctor, and had carried on a medical +practice in Rugeley, a small town in Staffordshire, for some years. +Then he went on the turf, and made his business over to a man +named Thirlby, a former assistant. Shortly afterwards, he made the +acquaintance of John P. Cook over some betting transactions. Cook was +a young man of good family, about twenty-eight years of age, and was +intended for the legal profession. He was articled to a solicitor; but +after a time, inheriting some property worth between twelve and fifteen +thousand pounds, he abandoned law and commenced to keep racehorses. +Meeting Palmer at various race meetings, they soon became very +intimate. In a very short time Palmer got into difficulties, and was +compelled to raise money on bills. Things went from bad to worse--until +he at last forged an acceptance to a bill in his mother's name, who +was possessed of considerable property. In 1854 he owed a large sum of +money, and in the same year his wife died, whose life, it transpired, +he had insured for £13,000. With this money he bought two racehorses; +but in his betting transactions he lost heavily, and then commenced to +borrow money from Cook, whose name he also forged on one occasion on +the back of a cheque. He insured his brother's life for £13,000, and +very shortly after _he_ died, the amount being also paid to Palmer. +This money soon went, and at length he had two writs out against him +for £4,000. + +In the meanwhile, Cook had been more successful than his friend in his +racing ventures, and had won a considerable amount with a race-horse he +owned called Polestar. Polestar was entered for the Shrewsbury races +on November 14, 1855, and Cook and Palmer went there and stayed with +some friends at the same hotel in that town. On the evening of the +races they were drinking brandy and water together. Cook asked Palmer +to have some more, and the latter replied, "Not unless you finish your +glass." Cook, noticing he had some still left in his tumbler, said, +"I'll soon do that," and finished it at a draught. On swallowing it +he immediately exclaimed, "There's something in it burns my throat." +Palmer took up the glass and said, "Nonsense, there is nothing in it," +and called the attention of the others standing by. Cook then suddenly +left the room, and was seized with violent vomiting. This became so bad +that he soon had to be taken to bed, and appeared to be very seriously +ill. Two hours later a medical man was sent for, who at once prescribed +an emetic, and then a pill. He obtained relief from these, and by the +morning the vomiting had ceased, and he was much better, though he +still felt very unwell. They returned to Rugeley together, Cook taking +rooms at an hotel directly opposite Palmer's house. Cook was still +confined to his room, and during the next few days, was constantly +visited by Palmer, and after each visit it was noticed the sickness +commenced again. On one occasion Palmer had some broth prepared, which +he specially wished Cook to take. The latter tried to swallow it, but +was immediately sick. It was then taken downstairs, and a woman at the +hotel, thinking it looked nice, took a couple of tablespoonfuls of +it; but within half an hour she was taken seriously ill, and obliged +to go to bed, her symptoms being exactly like those of Cook's when +first taken ill at Shrewsbury. Three days after this a neighbouring +doctor was called in, Palmer telling him that Cook was suffering from a +bilious attack. Palmer then suddenly went off to London, his business +being to try and arrange about the settlement of some debts that were +pressing. From the time he left, it was noticed by the doctor that +Cook's condition rapidly improved, and in a day or two he was able to +leave his bed and be up and dressed. On Palmer's return to Rugeley +he at once went to see Cook and during the rest of his illness was +constantly with him. On the evening of his return he also called on a +surgeon's assistant, with whom he was acquainted, and purchased from +him three grains of strychnine. Cook was taking some pills which had +been prescribed by the doctor, and which had done him good. They were +ordered to be taken at bedtime, and the box containing them was in his +room. He was visited by Palmer about 11 o'clock the same night, and up +to that time he was apparently well. Palmer left shortly after. At 12 +o'clock the whole house was aroused by violent screams proceeding from +Cook's room. The servants rushed in and found him writhing in great +agony, shouting "Murder!" He was evidently suffering intense pain, and +soon was seized with convulsions. Palmer was at once sent for, and on +his arrival Cook was gasping for breath, and hardly able to speak. He +ran back to procure some medicine, which on his return he gave him, +but the sick man at once threw it back. The attack gradually passed +off, and by the morning he was somewhat better, but very weak. The same +day Palmer visited a chemist he knew in the town, and purchased six +grains of strychnine. During the afternoon a relative of Palmer's, who +was also a medical man, arrived on a visit to Rugeley, and he was taken +to see Cook, and in the evening a consultation was held by the three +medical men. They agreed to prescribe some medicine for the patient +in the form of pills, which were prepared, and in the course of the +evening were handed to Palmer, who was to administer a dose the last +thing at night. + +About half-past ten Palmer gave Cook two of the pills, settled him +comfortably for the night, and went home. At ten minutes to eleven Cook +roused the house with a frightful scream, calling out, "I'm going to +be ill as I was last night." Palmer was sent for, and brought with him +two more pills, which he said contained ammonia, and gave them to Cook. +Very shortly afterwards convulsions set in, which were followed by +tetanus, and the unfortunate man died in a few minutes in great agony. + +The deceased man's relatives were communicated with, and his +father-in-law soon arrived in Rugeley. On Palmer being questioned about +Cook's affairs, he said that he held a paper drawn up by a lawyer, and +signed by Cook, stating that, in respect of £4,000 worth of bills, he +(Cook) was alone liable, and Palmer had a claim for that amount against +the estate. This, with other matters, aroused suspicion, and it was +decided to hold a post-mortem examination on the body to ascertain +the cause of death. Palmer was present at the examination, and by +his deliberate act the fluid contents of the stomach were lost. What +portions of the body were reserved for analysis, he did all he could to +prevent from reaching the analysts. When the jars, etc. were being sent +to London for examination by the Government analyst, he intercepted +them, and offered the post-boy £10 to upset the conveyance and break +them. + +The evidence offered at the trial was almost entirely circumstantial, +and the medical testimony was very conflicting. It was supposed, in the +first instance, Palmer had administered tartar emetic to his victim, +but that for the fatal dose strychnine was used. It was proved Palmer +had purchased strychnine under suspicious circumstances on the morning +of the day on which Cook died, and could not account for the purchase +of it, or state what he had done with it. The symptoms appeared at a +time which would correspond to the interval that precedes the action +of strychnine, being developed over the entire body and limbs in a +few minutes, suddenly and with violence. None of the pills could +be obtained for analysis, and Dr. Taylor, who made the analytical +examination, was unable to find any trace of strychnine in the portions +submitted to him, but he found half a grain of antimony in the blood. +He believed Cook died from the effects of strychnine. The great point +in the case was, did the tetanic symptoms, under which the deceased man +died, depend on disease or poison? Doctors Brodie, Christison and Todd, +and other eminent authorities of the time agreed, that when taken as a +whole they were not in accordance with any form of disease, but were in +perfect accordance with the effects of strychnine. On the other hand, +medical men called for the defence testified that tetanus might be +caused by natural disease, and the deceased might have died from angina +pectoris or epilepsy. In spite of the absence of confirmatory chemical +evidence, after one hour and seventeen minutes' deliberation, the jury +returned a verdict of "Guilty," and Palmer was sentenced to death, the +trial having lasted twelve days. + +The rigid and fixed condition of the limbs is a marked feature after +poisoning by strychnine. In the recent Horsford case, in which a +farmer named Walter Horsford was convicted of the murder of his cousin +Annie Holmes, at St. Neot's, in 1897, 3·69 grains of strychnine were +recovered from the internal organs, after the body was exhumed, +_nineteen days_ after death. Even then, rigidity was very marked, +especially in the lower limbs and fingers. The same rigidity was +remarked by Dr. Stevenson in the case of Matilda Clover, who was +poisoned by Neill Cream with strychnine a few years ago. In this case, +the body had been buried _from October until May_, and the rigidity +in the limbs and fingers was still maintained. Dr. Stevenson states +that usually when persons are suffering from strychnine poisoning, +they are very apprehensive of death. He has known a woman say, "I am +going to die" before any intimation of symptoms had occurred. The first +apprehension is, that some terrible calamity is about to take place. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +OPIUM EATING AND SMOKING--MESCAL BUTTONS + + +THE narcotic properties of the poppy have been known from times +of great antiquity. The first mention we have of its use is by +Theophrastus, who lived about 300 years B.C. It is supposed that the +potion known under the name of Nepenthe, prepared by Helen of Troy, +and given to the guests of Menelaus, to drive away their care, was +none other than a wine of opium. This conjecture receives support from +Homer, who states that Nepenthe was obtained from Thebes, the ancient +capital of Egypt. According to Prosper Alpinus, the Egyptians were +practised opium eaters, and were often faint and languid through the +want of it. They prepared and drank it in the form of "Cretic Wine," +which they flavoured and made hotter by the addition of pepper and +other aromatics. The Turks and Persians employed opium as a medicine, +and also for eating, from a very early period. Dioscorides, the ancient +Greek pharmacist, describes how the capsules from which the drug is +collected should be cut, and Celsus, a Roman physician of the first +century, frequently alludes to opium in his works under the quaint name +of "poppy tears." + +The introduction of opium into India seems to have been connected with +the spread of Mahomedanism, the earliest record we have of its use in +that country being made by Barbosa in 1511, although it is more than +probable it was used in India long before that time. Pyres, the first +ambassador from Europe to China in 1516, speaks of the opium of Egypt, +Cambay, and the kingdom of Coûs, in Bengal, and states it was eaten by +"the kings and lords, and even the common people, though not so much +because it costs dear." The Mogul Government uniformly sold the opium +monopoly, and the East India Company did likewise. + +The properties of opium have also been known from early times to +the Persians, who flavoured the drug with aromatics, and held it in +great esteem. By them it was commonly called Theriaka. It is supposed +to have been first introduced to China by the Arabs, who traded +with the Chinese as early as the ninth century. Towards the end of +the eighteenth century a trade sprang up with India, which rapidly +increased, till it led to political difficulties, culminating in the +war of 1842, and the signing of the treaty of Nanking, after which five +ports of China were opened to foreign trade, opium being admitted as a +legalised import in 1858. Opium smoking in China was practised in the +seventeenth century, and gradually extended over the entire empire, and +at the present time is almost a recognised habit among the people. + +With regard to the introduction of opium into India, the Mahomedans +once having established its use began to make it a source of income. +The Great Mogul monopolized the opium production and trade, and derived +an immense income from the sale of the monopoly. With respect to its +use in India, it is not easy to state with certainty whether or not +and in what periods, it has increased over the various parts of the +country. From the most recent reports it appears that "the largest +amount of opium is produced in the central tract of the Ganges, +extending from Dinapore in the east, to Agra in the west, and from +Gorakhpur in the north to Hazaribagh in the south, and comprising an +area of about 600 miles long and 200 miles broad." In the district of +Bengal, the Government has the monopoly of the opium industry, and +the districts are divided into two agencies, Behar and Benares, which +are under the control of officers residing in Patna and Ghazipur. +In 1883 the amount of acres under poppy cultivation was in Behar +463,829, and in Benares agency 412,625; but the export of opium has +somewhat diminished since then. Any one may undertake the industry, but +cultivators are obliged to sell the opium exclusively to the Government +agencies, at a price which is fixed beforehand by the officials. +The Government sells the ready goods to merchants at a much higher +price, which difference is paid by the country to which the opium is +exported. In India itself, the sale of opium is restricted to licensed +shopkeepers, a practice which has proved to be useful, because in some +places, when the licensed shops have been closed, a greater number of +unlicensed and secret shops have sprung up, and have made the contract +insufficient. + +The opium question is so complex in its nature, and is so largely +influenced by the habits and constitution of those nations who are +addicted to its use, that it is obvious that only those with skilled +medical knowledge, who are on the spot and have lived and had a daily +experience of the people, are in a proper position to deal with the +question at all. So much has been written by religious enthusiasts, +and other persons totally ignorant of the nature and properties of the +drug, that one almost hesitates to touch upon the question at all. +Our only excuse for so doing is, that the following facts have been +furnished by reliable medical authorities, who are really in a position +to judge on the subject. + +The cause which led to the use of this narcotic drug by the races of +the East may have been primarily due to the prohibition of wine by +the Moslems, but more likely on account of its valuable remedial or +protective properties, needed by a race subject to malaria and kindred +diseases, and to counteract the effect of the hot climate to which they +are exposed. It is a remedy at hand, and would seem to be one to which +they at once fly. The evil lies more in the smoking than the eating +of the drug; the former habit is more prevalent in China, and has the +most demoralizing effect. The extent of its use in the East varies +according to the geographical and social differences of the people, and +it is used in various degrees of moderation and excess. + +The drug is employed in various forms, according to the class of people +who consume it. In India it is largely used in the crude state, and is +sold at about two annas a drachm, in small square pieces. The opium +eater will take two or three grains and roll them into the form of a +pill between his fingers, and then chew or swallow it, often twenty +times in the day. It is also used in a liquid form called Kusambah +made by macerating opium in rose-water; others boil it with milk, then +collect the cream and eat it. The varieties for smoking are known as +Chundoo and Mudat, the former being a very impure extract of a fairly +stiff consistence, and the latter made from the refuse of Chundoo, of +which it largely consists; but being much cheaper, is chiefly used by +the low-class Hindoos and Mahomedans. From two to four grains a day may +be called a moderate use of the crude drug. The poorer people regularly +give it to children up to two years of age, to keep them quiet, also as +a preventive against such complaints as enteritis, so common in the +East; and so before youth is reached they become inured to its action. +Licences to sell the drug are sold to the highest bidder at the opium +auctions, the licensee having the privilege of supplying a certain +number of small dealers. + +The Chinese smoker usually lays himself down on his side, with his +head supported by a pillow. On the straw mat beside him, between his +doubled-up knees and his nose, a small glass oil lamp, covered with +a glass shade, is burning. Close to this is a tray, containing a +small round box holding the drug, a straight piece of wire used for +manipulating it, a knife to scrape up fragments, and the pipe used for +smoking. The latter is about two feet long, with a bore of about half +an inch in diameter, and is not unlike the stem of a flute before it +is fitted. About two inches from the bottom of the tube, is a closed +cup or bowl of earthenware or stone, having a central perforation. To +charge the pipe, a small portion of the drug (weighing a few grains) is +picked up with the wire, kneaded and rolled in the closed surface of +the cup, then heated in the flame of the lamp till it swells. This is +rolled up and again manipulated, then finally placed in the aperture +in the surface of the bowl. It is then lighted from the lamp, and the +smoke drawn into the lungs through the tube till the first charge is +exhausted. + +In a report made by the _British Medical Journal_ concerning the use of +opium in India, from the evidence of medical men long resident in that +country, there seems a general concensus of opinion that opium eating, +in the majority of cases, exercises no unfavourable influence on the +people who indulge in the habit, and that it is a prophylactic against +fever, and prevents the natives from malaria and excessive fatigue. +There is no comparison between the effects of the opium habit and the +habitual use of alcohol. English people cannot judge from their own +standard, the manners and customs of people living under conditions +with which they are unacquainted. While we look on opium as a narcotic, +the Hindoo uses it as a stimulant to enable him to go through hard work +on the smallest quantity possible of food. In Persia, at the present +time, according to Wills, nine out of ten of the aged, take from one +to five grains of the drug daily. It is largely used by the native +physicians. It does not appear that the moderate use of Persian opium +in the country itself, is deleterious. Opium smoking is almost unknown, +and when it is smoked, it is, as a rule, by a doctor's orders. The +opium pill-box--a tiny box of silver--is as common in Persia as the +snuff-box was once with us. Most men of forty in the middle and upper +classes use it. They take from a grain to a grain and a half, divided +into two pills, one in the afternoon and one at night. The majority of +authorities agree that opium smoking as a habit is much more harmful +and attended with more demoralizing influences than opium eating; but +either habit is undoubtedly harmful to Europeans, and when once formed, +is extremely difficult to break. + +Paracelsus is generally credited with being the originator of the word +"laudanum," which is now employed as the popular name for tincture +of opium. Yet there seems little doubt the word was first applied to +the gum of the cistus. Clusius in his "Rariorum Plantarum Historia" +states, "The gum of the cistus is called in Greek and Latin, ladanum, +and in shops laudanum." It is therefore very likely that the secret +preparation originated by Paracelsus which he called laudanum, was +composed of the gum of the cistus as well as opium, and that he +adopted the title from the former ingredient. + +The Kiowa and other Mexican Indians use the fruit of the _Anhelonium +Lewinii_, which they call "mescal buttons," to produce a species +of intoxication and stimulation during certain of their religious +ceremonies. The effects of this fruit, which like Indian hemp varies +considerably in different individuals, are very peculiar, and have been +described by Lewin, Prentiss and Morgan. + +The eating of the fruit first results in a state of strange excitement +and great exuberance of spirits, accompanied by great volubility in +speech. This is shortly followed by a stage of intoxication in which +the sight is affected in a very extraordinary manner, consisting of a +kaleidoscopic play of colours ever in motion, of every possible shade +and tint, and these constantly changing. The pupils of the eyes are +widely dilated, cutaneous sensation is blunted, and thoughts seem +to flash through the brain with extraordinary rapidity. The colour +visions are generally only seen with closed eyes, but the colouring +of all external objects is exaggerated. Sometimes there is also an +indescribable sensation of dual existence. + +Recent investigation into the pharmacology of the mescal plant prove +it to be a poison of a very powerful nature. Lethal doses produce +complete paralysis, and death is caused by respiratory failure. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +HASHISH AND HASHISH EATERS + + +HASHISH, or Bhang, is the native term applied to the dried flowering +tops of the Indian hemp, from which the resin has not been removed. + +This plant, cultivated largely in India, is now considered to be the +same, botanically, as the _Cannabis sativa_ of European cultivation; +but there is great difference in their medicinal activity, that growing +in India being much more powerful. Ganja is the native name for part of +the plant, and Sidhi for another part, which is much poorer in resin. +The resinous principle is called _churrus_ or _charas_, and the entire +plant, cut during inflorescence, dried in the sun and pressed into +bundles, is called _bhang_. + +The method of using it in India is chiefly for smoking in combination +with tobacco. For this purpose, a plug of tobacco is first placed +at the bottom of the bowl of the pipe, on the top a small piece of +hashish, and over this a piece of glowing charcoal. Another way is to +knead the drug with the tobacco by the thumb of one hand working in +the palm of the other, till they are thoroughly incorporated. Simple +infusions of the leaves and flowering tops are also much used for +drinking purposes by old and young in India, the alcoholic form being a +most active and dangerous intoxicant. + +The antiquity of the drug is great, and it is said to have been used +in China as early as the year 220, to produce insensibility when +performing operations. The Persians employed it in the Middle Ages for +the purpose of exciting the pugnacity and fanaticism of the soldiers +during the wars of the Crusades. + +In 1803 Visey, a French scientist, published a memoir on hashish, and +attempted to prove that it was the Nepenthe of Homer; there is little +doubt, however, that the use of the drug was known to Galen. + +Silvestin de Lacy contends that the word assassin is derived from +"hashishin," a name given to a wild sect of Mahomedans who committed +murder under its influence. + +The Chinese herbal, Rh-ya, which dates from about the fifth century, +B.C., notices the fact that the hemp plant is of two kinds, the one +producing seeds and the other flowers only. Herodotus states that hemp +grows in Scythia both wild and cultivated, and that the Thracians made +garments from it which can hardly be distinguished from linen. He also +describes "how the Scythians exposed themselves as in a bath" to the +vapour of the seeds thrown on hot coals. + +The hemp occurs in two principal forms, viz.: 1. _bhang_, consisting of +the dried leaves and small stalks of a dark green colour, mixed with a +few fruits. It has a peculiar odour but little taste. Mixed with flour +or incorporated with sweetmeat it is called hashish. It is also smoked, +or taken infused in cold water. 2. _Ganja_ consists of the flowering +shoots of the female plant, having a compound or glutinous appearance, +and is brownish-green in colour. + +Of the many curious experiences that have been written describing +the effects of hashish, perhaps the most accurate is that given by +Gautier, in which he relates his own experience of the drug. + +"The Orientalists," he states, "have in consequence of the interdiction +of wine sought that species of excitement which the Western nations +derive from alcoholic drinks." He then proceeds to state how a few +minutes after swallowing some of the preparation, a sudden overwhelming +sensation took possession of him. It appeared to him that his body +was dissolved, and that he had become transparent. He clearly saw +in his stomach the hashish he had swallowed, under the form of an +emerald, from which a thousand little sparks issued. His eyelashes were +lengthened out indefinitely, and rolled like threads of gold around +ivory balls, which turned with inconceivable rapidity. Around him +were sparklings of precious stones of all colours, changes eternally +produced, like the play of a kaleidoscope. He every now and then saw +his friends who were round him, disfigured as half men, half plants, +some having the wings of the ostrich, which they were constantly +shaking. So strange were these that he burst into fits of laughter, +and, to join in the apparent ridiculousness of the affair, he began by +throwing the cushions in the air, catching and turning them with the +rapidity of an Indian juggler. One gentleman spoke to him in Italian, +which the hashish transposed into Spanish. After a few minutes he +recovered his habitual calmness, without any bad effect, and only with +feelings of astonishment at what had passed. Half an hour had scarcely +elapsed before he again fell under the influence of the drug. On this +occasion the vision was more complicated and extraordinary. In the air +there were millions of butterflies, confusedly luminous, shaking their +wings like fans. Gigantic flowers, with chalices of crystal; large +peonies upon beds of gold and silver, rose and surrounded him with the +crackling sound that accompanies the explosion in the air of fireworks. +His hearing acquired new power; it was enormously developed. He heard +the noise of colours. Green, red, blue, yellow sounds reached him in +waves--a glass thrown down, the creaking of a sofa, a word pronounced +low, vibrated and rolled within him like peals of thunder. His own +voice sounded so loud that he feared to speak, lest he should knock +down the walls or explode like a rocket. More than five hundred clocks +struck the hour with fleeting silvery voice, and every object touched +gave a note like the harmonica or the Æolian harp. He swam in an ocean +of sound, where floated like aisles of light some of the airs of "Lucia +di Lammermoor" and the "Barber of Seville." Never did similar bliss +overwhelm him with its waves; he was lost in a wilderness of sweets; he +was not himself; he was relieved from consciousness, that feeling which +always pervades the mind; and for the first time he comprehended what +might be the state of elementary beings, of angels, of souls separated +from the body. All his system seemed infected with the fantastic +colouring in which he was plunged. Sounds, perfume, light, reached him +only by minute rays, in the midst of which he heard mystic currents +whistling along. According to his calculation, this state lasted about +three hundred years, for the sensations were so numerous and so hurried +one upon the other, that a real appreciation of time was impossible. +The paroxysm over, he was aware that it had only lasted _a quarter of +an hour_. + +Another interesting account of the strange hallucinations produced by +the drug is related by Dr. Moreau, who with two friends experimented +with hashish. "At first," he states, "I thought my companions were +less influenced by the drug than myself. Then, as the effect increased, +I fancied that the person who had brought me the dose had given me some +of more active quality. This, I thought to myself, was an imprudence, +and the involuntary idea presented itself that I might be poisoned. +The idea became fixed; I called out loudly to Dr. Roche, 'You are an +assassin; you have poisoned me!' This was received with shouts of +laughter, and my lamentations excited mirth. I struggled for some time +against the thought, but the greater the effort the more completely did +it overcome me, till at last it took full possession of my mind. The +extravagant conviction now came uppermost that I was dead, and upon the +point of being buried; my soul had left my body. In a few minutes I had +gone through all the stages of delirium." + +These fixed ideas and erroneous convictions are apt to be produced, +but they only last a few seconds, unless there is any actual physical +disorder. "The Orientalist, when he indulges in hashish retires +into the depth of his harem; no one is then admitted who cannot +contribute to his enjoyment. He surrounds himself with his dancing +girls, who perform their graceful evolutions before him to the sound +of music; gradually a new condition of the brain allows a series of +illusions, arising from the external senses, to present themselves. +The mind becomes overpowered by the brilliancy of gorgeous visions; +discrimination, comparison, reason, yield up their throne to dreams and +phantoms which exhilarate and delight. + +"The mind tries to understand what is the cause of the new delight, but +it is in vain. It seems to know there is no reality." + +Hardly two people experience the same effects from hashish. Upon some +it has little action, while upon others, especially women, it exerts +extraordinary power. While one person says he imagined his body endowed +with such elasticity, that he fancied he could enter into a bottle and +remain there at his ease, another fancied he had become the piston of +a steam engine; under the influence of the drug the ear lends itself +more to the illusion than any other sense. Its first effect is one of +intense exhilaration, almost amounting to delirium; power of thought +is soon lost, and the victim laughs, cries and sings or dances, all +the time imagining he is acting rationally. The second stage is one of +dreamy enjoyment followed by a dead stupor. + +Of the ordinary physical effects of hashish, the first is a feeling of +slight compression of the temporal bones and upper parts of the head. +The respiration is gentle, the pulse is increased, and a gentle heat +is felt all over the surface of the body. There is a sense of weight +about the fore part of the arms, and an occasional slight involuntary +motion, as if to seek relief from it. There is a feeling of discomfort +about the extremities, creating a feeling of uneasiness, and if the +dose has been too large the usual symptoms of poisoning by Indian hemp +show themselves. Flushes of heat seem to ascend, to the head, even to +the brain, which create considerable alarm. Singing in the ears is +complained of; then comes on a state of anxiety, almost of anguish, +with a sense of constriction about the chest. The individual fancies +he hears the beating of his heart with unaccustomed loudness; but +throughout the whole period it is the nervous system that is affected, +and in this way the drug differs materially from opium whose action on +the muscular and digestive systems is most marked. + +It is somewhat remarkable that Indian hemp fails to produce the same +intoxicating effects in this country that it does in warmer climates, +and whether this is due to the loss of some volatile principle or +difference in temperature it is not yet determined. But would-be +experimentalists in the effects of hashish would do well to remember +that it may not be indulged in with impunity, and most authorities +agree that the brain becomes eventually disordered with frequent +indulgence in the drug even in India. It further becomes weakened and +incapable of separating the true from the false; frequent intoxication +leads to a condition of delirium, and usually of a dangerous nature; +the moral nature becomes numbed, and the victim at last becomes unfit +to pursue his ordinary avocation. It is stated by those who have had +considerable experience in its use, that even during the dream of joy +there is a consciousness that all is illusion; there is at no period a +belief that anything that dances before the senses or plays upon the +imagination is real, and that when the mind recovers its equilibrium it +knows that all is but a phantasm. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +TOBACCO LORE + + +FEW, perchance, of the millions who gather comfort from the "herb of +fragrance" are aware that it is to Don Hernandez de Toledo we are +indebted for the introduction of tobacco into Western Europe, which he +first brought to Spain and Portugal in 1559. Jean Nicot was at this +time Ambassador at the Court of Lisbon from Frances II, and it was he +who transmitted or carried, either the seed or the plant to Catherine +de Medicis, and who gave it the name _Nicotiana_. Like other great +personages of the time, Catherine encouraged the homage of travellers +and artists. It was considered to be one of the wonders of the New +World, and reported to possess most extraordinary medicinal properties +and virtues. Thirty years later the Cardinal Santa Croce, returning +from his nunciature in Spain and Portugal to Italy, took with him some +tobacco leaves, and we may form some idea of the enthusiasm with which +its production was hailed, from a perusal of the poetry which the +subject inspired, such as the following: + + Herb of immortal fame! + Which hither first with Santa Croce came, + When he, his time of nunciature expired, + Back from the Court of Portugal retired; + Even as his predecessor, great and good, + Brought home the cross. + + +The poet compares the exploit of the cardinal with that of his +progenitor, who brought home the wood of the true cross. + +The first exact description of the plant is that given by Gonzalo +Fernandez de Oviedo-y-Valdés, Governor of St. Domingo, in his _Historia +General de las Indias_, printed at Seville in 1535. In this work, the +leaf is said to be smoked through a branched tube of the shape of the +letter [Y], which the natives called _tobaco_. + +After the introduction of tobacco into England by Sir Walter Raleigh +on his return from America, the custom of smoking the leaf became very +general, and it truly seems to have supplied a common want. It was +mostly sold by the apothecaries in their dark little shops, and here +the gallants would congregate to smoke their pipes and gossip, while +the real Timidado, nicotine cane and pudding, was cut off with a silver +knife on a maple block and retailed to the customers. The pipes used in +the time of Queen Elizabeth were chiefly made of silver. The commoner +kinds consisted of a walnut shell, in which a straw was inserted, and +the tobacco was sold in the shops for its weight in silver. + +The celebrated _Counterblaste to Tobacco_, by King James I, describes +smoking as "a custom loathsome to the eye, hatefull to the nose, +harmfull to the brain, dangerous to the lungs; and in the black, +stinking fume thereof, nearest resembling the horrible Stygian smoake +of the pit that is bottomlesse." In 1604 this monarch endeavoured, by +means of heavy imposts, to abolish its use in this country, and in 1619 +he commanded that no planter in Virginia should cultivate more than one +hundred pounds. + +It is said, some spent as much as £500 a year in the purchase of +tobacco in those days. In 1624 Pope Urban VIII published a decree of +excommunication against all who took snuff in the church. Ten years +after this, smoking was forbidden in Russia under pain of having the +nose cut off; and in 1653 the Council of the Canton of Appenzell cited +smokers before them, whom they punished, ordering all innkeepers to +inform against such as were found smoking in their houses. The police +regulations made in Berne in 1661 were divided according to the Ten +Commandments, in which the prohibition of smoking stands after the +command against adultery. This prohibition was renewed in 1675, and +the tribunal instituted to put it into execution--viz., Chambreau +Tabac--continued to the middle of the eighteenth century. Pope Innocent +XII, in 1690, excommunicated all those who were found taking snuff or +tobacco in the Church of St. Peter at Rome; and even so late as 1719 +the Senate of Strasburg prohibited the cultivation of tobacco, from +an apprehension that it would diminish the growth of corn. Amurath IV +published an edict which made smoking tobacco a capital offence; but, +notwithstanding all opposition, its fascinating power has held its own. + +It is believed that the tobacco plant _Nicotiana Tabacum_ is a native +of tropical America, and it was found by the Spaniards when they landed +in Cuba in 1492. There seems little doubt that the practice of smoking +the leaf has been common among the natives of South America from time +immemorial. It is now cultivated all over the world, but nowhere more +abundantly or with better results than in the United States. Virginia +is perhaps most celebrated for its culture. The young shoots produced +from seeds thickly sown in beds, are transplanted into the fields +during the month of May, and set in rows, with an interval of three +or four feet between the plants. Through the whole period of its +growth, the crop requires constant attention till the harvest time, in +the month of August. The ripe plants having been cut off above their +roots, are dried under cover, and then stripped of their leaves, which +are tied in bundles and packed in hogsheads. While hung up in the +drying-houses, they undergo a curing process, consisting of exposure +to a considerable degree of heat, through which they become moist, +after which they are dried for packing. In Persia and Turkey a form of +tobacco is sold under the name of Tumbeki for use in the water-pipes or +narghileh, which is said to be the product of the _Nicotiana Persica_. + +The active principle _Nicotine_ was first isolated in 1828, by Posselt +and Reimann, and is an almost colourless, oily liquid of a highly +poisonous nature. It soon becomes brown on exposure to air or light. +The amount present in tobacco leaves varies considerably, but it is +usually about six per cent. It has not been met with in tobacco smoke, +according to Vohl, but the tobacco oils contain minute proportion of +nicotine. One drop of pure nicotine is sufficient to kill a dog, while +a very little more will destroy life in a human being. It is said to +possess the property of resisting decomposition amid the decaying +tissues of the body, and was detected by Orfila two or three months +after death. Vohl and Eulenberg have made an interesting investigation +of tobacco smoke. The smoke analysed was from a tobacco containing four +per cent. of nicotine, but none of the alkaloid was found in the smoke. +In the smoke of cigars certain gases were given off, and an oily body +collected, which, on distillation, yielded aromatic acids. Distilled at +a temperature above boiling water, tobacco gives an empyreumatic oil +of a poisonous nature. It exactly resembles that which collects in the +stems of tobacco pipes, and contains a small percentage of nicotine. +The actual amount of nicotine absorbed into the blood while smoking a +pipe is very minute, at least fifty per cent. of the entire alkaloid +being destroyed by decomposition, and escaping from the bowl of the +pipe. The habitual inhalation of tobacco smoke is undoubtedly harmful, +but unless the smoke be intentionally inhaled, very little makes its +way into the lungs. A great deal of misconception exists in the mind +of the average individual as to the power of the alkaloid of tobacco. +The amount of nicotine actually absorbed from a fair-sized pipe is +about one-fortieth of a grain, in a cigar rather less. Death has +resulted after smoking eighteen pipes, and from twenty cigars smoked +continuously. + +Tobacco is a powerful sedative poison; used in large quantities it +causes vertigo, stupor, faintness, and general depression of the +nervous system. It will sometimes cause excessive nausea and retching, +with feebleness of pulse, coolness of the skin, and occasionally +convulsions. But there seems very little known as to how these symptoms +are produced. Employed to excess, it enfeebles digestion, produces +emaciation and general debility, and is often the beginning of serious +nervous disorders. Be this as it may, the moderate smoking of tobacco +has, in most cases, even beneficial results, and there appears little +doubt that it acts as a solace and comfort to the poor as well as the +rich. It soothes the restless, calms mental and corporeal inquietude, +and produces a condition of repose without a corresponding reaction or +after-effect. In adults, especially those liable to mental worry, and +all brain workers, its action is often a boon, the only danger being in +overstepping the boundary of moderation to excess. It is not suitable +to every constitution, and those who can trace to it evil effects +should not continue its use. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +POISON HABITS + + +THERE is a very peculiar property attached to poisons, especially those +possessing anodyne properties--that is, they are capable of forming the +most enslaving habits known to mankind. Thousands of people to-day are +enchained in the slavery of the poison habit in one form or another, +and very few are ever successful in wresting them selves free when +once it has been contracted. The habit is formed in the most insidious +manner. Often, in the first instance, some narcotic drug is recommended +to relieve pain or induce sleep. In a short time the original dose +fails to produce the desired effect, it has to be increased, and +afterwards still further increased, until the victim finds he cannot do +without it, and a terrible craving for the drug is created. By-and-by +the stupefying action affects the brain, the moral character suffers, +and the unfortunate being is at last ready to do anything to obtain a +supply of the drug that is now his master. + +This is not an overdrawn picture, but one of which instances are +constantly to be met with. The enslaving habit of alcohol, when once +contracted, is too well known to need description. Opium comes next +in the point of influence it exerts over its victims, and a very +small percentage ever free themselves from the habit when it is once +contracted. In most instances it is taken in the first place to relieve +some severe pain, as in De Quincey's case. He says, in his _Confessions +of an Opium Eater_, "It was not for the purpose of creating pleasure, +but of mitigating pain in the severest degree, that I first began to +use opium as an article of daily diet." Like others, he was compelled +to increase the dose gradually, until at last he consumed the enormous +quantity of 320 grains of the drug a day. He graphically describes +the struggle he first had to reduce the daily dose, and found that to +a certain point it could be reduced with ease, but after that point, +further reduction caused intense suffering. However, a crisis arrived, +and he writes, "I saw that I must die if I continued the opium. I +determined, therefore, if that should be required, to die in throwing +it off. I apprehend at this time I was taking from 50 or 60 grains +to 150 grains a day. My first task was to reduce it to 40, to 30, +and as fast as I could to 12 grains. I triumphed; but think not my +sufferings were ended. Think of me, as one, even when four months had +passed, still agitated, writhing, throbbing, palpitating, shattered; +and much perhaps in the situation of him who has been racked." Other +cases are commonly met with in this country, where opium eaters take +on an average from 60 to 80 grains of the drug a day. The smallest +quantity which has proved fatal in the adult is 4½ grains; in other +cases enormous quantities have been taken with impunity; and Guy states +recovery once took place after no less than eight ounces of solid opium +had been swallowed. + +Morphine, the chief alkaloid of opium, is also abused by many, and +is swallowed as well as used by injection under the skin. Its action +is very similar to that of opium. It has been recently given on good +authority, that in Chicago--that city of hurrying men and restless +women--over thirty-five thousand persons habitually take subcutaneous +injections of morphine to save themselves from the pains and terrors +of neuralgia, insomnia, and nervousness, etc. To a delicate woman one +grain of this drug has proved fatal, yet, under the influence of habit, +a young lady has been known to take from 15 to 20 grains daily. A man +in a good position, and head of a large commercial house, contracted +the habit of taking morphine from a prescription he had had given to +him containing 4 grains of the drug. As the habit grew, he would have +the medicine prepared by four different chemists daily, and swallow the +contents of each bottle for a dose, until he took on an average over 24 +grains a day. This being put a stop to by his friends, he commenced to +take chloroform, which he would purchase in small quantities until he +had collected a bottleful, and then he would drink it, usually mixed +with whisky. He eventually had to be placed under restraint. + +Chloroform is not often taken habitually, but several instances have +been met with where as much as two ounces have been swallowed by a man. +The effects, when taken by the mouth, are similar to those which follow +its inhalation. Chlorodyne, which generally contains both morphine and +prussic acid in its composition, is also much abused, especially by +women. Some women have been known to consume two ounces a week of this +preparation. Cocaine, an active principle of the _Erythroxylum coca_, +is capable of exciting a powerful craving, which apparently holds its +victims in a grip of iron until they are willing to spend any amount +of money in obtaining the drug. Arsenic eating is a habit fortunately +rare in this country, although cases have been met with in which +women have gradually become addicted to taking large quantities for +improving their complexions. The peasants in some parts of Styria and +Hungary have long been known to eat arsenic, taking, it is said, from +two to five grains daily; the men doing so in order that they may gain +strength and be able to endure fatigue, and the women that they may +improve their complexions. Dr. Maclagan, of Edinburgh, states he saw a +Styrian eat a piece of arsenious acid weighing over four grains. + +Sleeplessness is a frequent cause of the formation of a poison habit, +and for this purpose chloral hydrate, perhaps, is capable of producing +more serious results than any other drug of its class. The fact that +it accumulates in the system, and that the dose needs constantly to +be increased, always renders its use dangerous in unskilled hands. +Many gifted men have fallen victims to the habit, among others Dante +Rossetti, who seldom was without a bottle of the narcotic near him. +Latterly, sulphonal, a drug derived from coal tar, possessing hypnotic +properties, has been largely taken; and antipyrine, now a popular +remedy for headache, is capable of forming a pernicious and dangerous +habit. The practice of self-dosing with drugs of this description +cannot be too strongly deprecated. + +Some people form a curious habit of taking one drug till at last they +become imbued with the idea that that only and nothing else, will have +any effect on them. The only remedy Carlyle would ever take, according +to the late Sir Richard Quain who was his medical adviser, was Grey +powder. "Grey powder was his favourite remedy when he had that wretched +dyspepsia from which he suffered, and which was fully accounted for by +the fact that he was particularly fond of very nasty gingerbread. Many +times I have seen him, sitting in the chimney corner, smoking a clay +pipe and eating this gingerbread." Oliver Goldsmith also laboured under +the confirmed belief that the only medicine that would have any effect +on him was "James' Powder." He doctored himself with this favourite +nostrum whenever he felt unwell, and believed it to be a cure for all +ills. + +According to a West End physician quite a new and most reprehensible +vice has recently become fashionable--viz., a craze that has arisen +among women for smoking green tea, in the form of cigarettes. Though +adopted by some fair ladies merely as a pastime, not a few of its +votaries are women of high education and mental attainments. "Among +my patients," he states, "suffering from extreme nervousness and +insomnia, is a young lady, highly distinguished, at Girton. Another +is a lady novelist, whose books are widely read, and who habitually +smoked twenty or thirty of these cigarettes nightly when writing, for +their stimulating effect." Though tea does not contain a trace of any +poisonous principle, it can, when thus misused, exert a most harmful +influence. Doubtless, the high pressure at which most of the dwellers +in our great cities now live, and the worry of too much brain work on +one hand, or the lack of occupation on the other, is one of the chief +causes of taking up habits of this kind. + +One of the best remedies, and one which it is to be hoped will +eventually come to pass is, that the Legislature should render poisons +less easy of purchase, by restricting the sale of every drug or +compound in the nature of a poison to the properly qualified chemist, +who, by his training and special knowledge, is alone competent to sell +these substances. Incalculable harm is done by habits such as we have +alluded to, and it is better often to endure pain and torment, than to +fly constantly to what in the end will only inflict worse punishment. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +POISONS IN FICTION + + +FROM a very early period poisoning mysteries have been woven into +romance and story, and in later times have been a favourite theme +for both novelist and dramatist. But unfortunately, the scientific +knowledge of writers of fiction, as a rule, is of a very limited +description, and the effects attributed by them to certain drugs are +usually as fabulous as the romances of the olden times. They tell us +of mysterious poisons of untold power, an infinitesimal quantity of +which will cause instantaneous death without leaving a trace behind. +They describe anæsthetics so powerful, that a whiff from a bottle is +sufficient to produce immediate insensibility for any period desired. +In fact, the novelist has a pharmacopoeia of his own. After all, why +should we question or cavil, and wish to analyse it in the prosaic test +tube of modern science; for take away the marvels and mysteries and +you kill the romance. The novel performs its mission if it succeeds in +interesting and amusing us, and the story-teller has accomplished the +object of his art when he is successful in weaving the possible with +the impossible, so that we can scarce perceive it. + +That master of fiction, Dumas, gives us an instance of this, in his +wonderfully fascinating adventures of the Count Monte Christo. Nothing +seems impossible to this extraordinary individual, and incident +after incident of the most romantic and exciting nature crowd one +upon another throughout the story; yet so beautifully blended by the +wonderful imagination of the author, that it enthrals us to the end. +The Count, who is supposed to have studied the art of medicine in the +East, has always a remedy at hand for every emergency, from hashish, in +which he is a profound believer, to his mysterious stimulating elixir, +described as "of the colour of blood, preserved in a phial of Bohemian +glass." A single drop of this marvellous fluid, if allowed to fall on +the lips, will, almost before it reaches them, restore the marble and +inanimate form to life. His pill boxes were composed of emeralds and +precious stones of huge size, and their contents consisted of drugs, +whose effects were beyond conception. His knowledge of chemistry and +toxicology is equally astonishing, as instanced in the conversation he +holds with Madame de Villefort, who, for nefarious purposes, desires +to improve her knowledge of poisons. Monte Christo discourses on the +poisonous properties of brucine, a drug rarely used in England, but +largely used in France. "Suppose," says the Count, "you were to take +a millegramme of this poison the first day, two millegrammes the +second day, and so on. Well, at the end of ten days you would have +taken a centigramme: at the end of twenty days, increasing another +millegramme, you would have taken three hundred centigrammes; that +is to say, a dose you would support without inconvenience, and which +would be very dangerous for any other person who had not taken the +same precautions as yourself. Well, then, at the end of a month, when +drinking water from the same carafe, you would kill the person who had +drunk this water, without your perceiving otherwise than from slight +inconvenience that there was any poisonous substance mingled with the +water." The Count thus explains the doctrine of immunity from a poison, +by accustoming the system to its effect in small doses for a length +of time, a process which is actually possible with some drugs, but +not with all. His satirical description of the bungling of the common +poisoner, as compared to the fine subtlety and cunning he advocates, +is also worth quoting: "Amongst us a simpleton, possessed by the +demon of hate or cupidity, who has an enemy to destroy, or some near +relation to dispose of, goes straight to the grocer's or druggist's, +gives a false name, which leads more easily to his detection than his +real one, and purchases, under a pretext that the rats prevent him +from sleeping, five or six pennyworth of arsenic. If he is really a +cunning fellow he goes to five or six different druggists or grocers, +and thereby becomes only five or six times more easily traced; then, +when he has acquired his specific, he administers duly to his enemy or +near kinsman a dose of arsenic which would make a mammoth or mastodon +burst, and which, without rhyme or reason, makes his victim utter +groans which alarm the whole neighbourhood. Then arrive a crowd of +policemen and constables. They fetch a doctor, who opens the dead body, +and collects from the entrails and stomach a quantity of arsenic in a +spoon. Next day a hundred newspapers relate the fact, with the names of +the victim and the murderer. The same evening the grocer or grocers, +druggist or druggists, come and say, 'It was I who sold the arsenic +to the gentleman accused'; and rather than not recognize the guilty +purchaser, they will recognize twenty. Then the foolish criminal is +taken, imprisoned, interrogated, confronted, confounded, condemned, and +cut off by hemp or steel; or, if she be a woman of any consideration, +they lock her up for life. This is the way in which you northerners +understand chemistry." And so he endeavours to incite a woman, who is +already anxiously contemplating a series of terrible crimes. + +The recital of the ingenious experiments of the Abbé Adelmonte is a +piece of clever construction, as the quotation will show. "The Abbé," +said Monte Christo, "had a remarkably fine garden full of vegetables, +flowers, and fruit. From amongst these vegetables he selected the +most simple--a cabbage, for instance. For three days he watered this +cabbage with a distillation of arsenic; on the third, the cabbage +began to droop and turn yellow. At that moment he cut it. In the eyes +of everybody it seemed fit for table, and preserved its wholesome +appearance. It was only poisoned to the Abbé Adelmonte. He then took +the cabbage to the room where he had rabbits, for the Abbé Adelmonte +had a collection of rabbits, cats, and guinea-pigs, equally fine as his +collection of vegetables, flowers, and fruit. Well, the Abbé Adelmonte +took a rabbit and made it eat a leaf of the cabbage. The rabbit died. +What magistrate would find or even venture to insinuate anything +against this? What _procureur du roi_ has ever ventured to draw up an +accusation against M. Magendie or M. Flourens, in consequence of the +rabbits, cats, and guinea-pigs they have killed? Not one. So, then, +the rabbit dies, and justice takes no notice. This rabbit dead, the +Abbé Adelmonte has its entrails taken out by his cook and thrown on the +dunghill; on this dunghill was a hen, who, pecking these intestines, +was, in her turn, taken ill, and dies next day. At the moment when +she was struggling in the convulsions of death, a vulture was flying +by (there are a good many vultures in Adelmonte's country); this bird +darts on the dead bird and carries it away to a rock, where it dines +off its prey. Three days afterwards this poor vulture, who has been +very much indisposed since that dinner, feels very giddy, suddenly, +whilst flying aloft in the clouds, and falls heavily into a fish-pond. +The pike, eels, and carp eat greedily always, as everybody knows--well, +they feast on the vulture. Well, suppose the next day, one of these +eels, or pike, or carp is served at your table, poisoned, as they are +to the third generation. Well, then, your guest will be poisoned in the +fifth generation, and die at the end of eight or ten days, of pains in +the intestines, sickness, or abscess of the pylorus. The doctors open +the body, and say, with an air of profound learning, 'The subject has +died of a tumour on the liver, or typhoid fever.'" + +After attempting to kill half the household with brucine, Madame +de Villefort changes her particular poison for a simple narcotic, +recognized by Monte Christo (who in this instance frustrates the +murderer) as being dissolved in alcohol. The name of the latter poison +is not told us by the novelist, but on the doctor's examination of +the suspected liquid we read, "He took from its silver case a small +bottle of nitric acid, dropped a little of it into the liquor, which +immediately changed to a blood-red colour." + +Perhaps the most curious method of poisoning ever used in fiction is +that introduced by the late Mr. James Payn in his novel, "Halves." +The poisoner uses finely chopped horse-hair as a medium for getting +rid of her niece. In this way she brings on a disease which puzzles +the doctor, until one day he comes across the would-be murderess +pulling the horse-hair out of the drawing-room sofa, which causes him +to suspect her at once. This ingenious lady introduced the chopped +horse-hair into the pepper-pot used by her victim. The inimitable Count +Fosco, whom Wilkie Collins introduces into "The Woman in White," was +supposed to possess a remarkable knowledge of chemistry, although he +says, "Only twice did I call science to my aid," in working out his +plot to abduct Lady Glyde. His media were simple: "A medicated glass +of water and a medicated bottle of smelling-salts relieved her of all +further embarrassment and alarm." This genial villain waxes eloquent on +the science of chemistry in his confession. "Chemistry!" he exclaims, +"has always had irresistible attractions for me from the enormous, +the illimitable power which the knowledge of it confers. Chemists--I +assert it emphatically--might sway, if they pleased, the destinies +of humanity. Mind, they say, rules the world. But what rules the +mind? The body (follow me closely here) lies at the mercy of the most +omnipotent of all potentates--the chemist. Give me--Fosco--chemistry; +and when Shakespeare has conceived Hamlet, and sits down to execute +the conception--with a few grains of powder dropped into his daily +food, I will reduce his mind, by the action of his body, till his pen +pours out the most abject drivel that has ever degraded paper. Under +similar circumstances revive me the illustrious Newton. I guarantee +that when he sees the apple fall he shall _eat it_, instead of +discovering the principle of gravitation. Nero's dinner shall transform +Nero into the mildest of men before he has done digesting it, and the +morning draught of Alexander the Great shall make Alexander run for +his life at the first sight of the enemy the same afternoon. On my +sacred word of honour it is lucky for Society that modern chemists +are, by incomprehensible good fortune, the most harmless of mankind. +The mass are worthy fathers of families, who keep shops. The few are +philosophers besotted with admiration for the sound of their own +lecturing voices, visionaries who waste their lives on fantastic +impossibilities, or quacks whose ambition soars no higher than our +corns." + +In "Armadale," the same novelist introduces us to a poisoner of the +deepest dye in the person of Miss Gwilt. This fair damsel, whose auburn +locks seemed to have possessed an irresistible attraction for the +opposite sex, was addicted to taking laudanum to soothe her troubled +nerves, and first tried to mix a dose with some lemonade she had +prepared for her husband's namesake and friend, whom she wished out of +the way. This attempt failing, and a second one, to scuttle a yacht +in which he was sailing, proving futile also, he was finally lured to +a sanatorium in London, where she had arranged for him to be placed +to sleep in a room into which a poisonous gas (presumably carbonic +acid) was to be passed. At the last moment she discovers her husband +has taken the place of her victim, and in a revulsion of feeling she +rescues him, and ends her own life instead in the poisoned chamber. +According to the story, the medical investigation which followed this +tragedy ended in discovering that she had died of apoplexy; a fact +which had it occurred in real life would not have redounded to the +credit of the medical men who conducted it. + +The heroine of Mr. Benson's novel, "The Rubicon," poisons herself with +prussic acid of unheard of strength, which she discovers _among some +photographic chemicals_. + +On the stage, "poisoning" has gone somewhat out of fashion with modern +dramatists, although it was a common thing in years gone by for the +villain of the play to swallow a cup of cold poison in the last act, +and after several dying speeches to fall suddenly flat on his back and +die to slow music. The death of Cleopatra, described by Shakespeare +as resulting from the bite of a venomous snake, is like no clinical +description of the final effects of death from the bite of any known +snake. Beverley, in "The Gamester," takes a dose of strong poison in +the fifth act, and afterwards makes several fairly long speeches before +he apparently feels the effects, and finally succumbs. The description +of the death of Juliet, which Shakespeare, in all probability, +conceived from reading the effects that followed the drinking of morion +or mandragora wine, is an accurate description of death from that +drug. The use of this anodyne preparation to deaden pain dates from +ancient times, and it is stated it was a common practice for women to +administer it to those about to suffer the penalty of the law by being +crucified. We have another instance of the fabulous effects ascribed +to poisons by the early playwrights, in Massinger's play, "The Duke of +Milan." Francisco dusts over a plant some poisonous powder and hands it +to Eugenia. Ludovico approaches, and kisses the lady's hand but twice, +and then dies from the effects of the poison. + +Miss Helen Mathers, in one of her recent works, viz., "The Sin of +Hagar," a story warranted to thrill the soul of "Sweet Seventeen," +makes some extraordinary discoveries which will be new to chemists. +For instance, she tells us of strychnine that actually _discolours_ a +glass of whisky and water. One of the characters, a frisky old dowager, +professes to be an _amateur_ chemist, and this lady, we are gravely +informed by the novelist, "detects the presence of the strychnine in +the glass of whisky and water _at a glance_." + +But Miss Mathers has still another poison, whose properties will +doubtless be a revelation to scientists, and it is with this +marvellous body the "double-dyed villainess" of the story puts an end +to her woes. For convenience she carries it about with her concealed in +a ring, and when at last she decides on committing suicide, we are told +"she simply placed the ring to her lips, a strange odour spread through +the room, and she instantly lay dead." + +Sufficient eccentricities of this kind in fiction might be enumerated +to fill a volume, but we must forbear. It is perhaps hardly necessary +to state that the lady novelist is the greatest sinner in this respect, +and stranger poisons are evolved from her fertile brain than were ever +known to man. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +THE LAMBETH POISON MYSTERIES + + +TOWARDS the close of the year 1891 and the early part of 1892, public +interest was excited by the mysterious deaths of several young women +of the "unfortunate" class residing in the neighbourhood of Lambeth. +The first case was that of a girl named Matilda Clover, who lived in +Lambeth Road. On the night of October 20, 1891, she spent the evening +at a music-hall in company with a man, who returned with her to her +lodgings about nine o'clock. Shortly afterwards she was seen to go out +alone, and she purchased some bottled beer, which she carried to her +rooms. After a little time the man left the house. + +At three o'clock in the morning the inmates of the house were aroused +by the screams of a woman, and on the landlady entering Matilda +Clover's room, she found the unfortunate girl lying across the bed in +the greatest agony. Medical aid was sent for, and the assistant of a +neighbouring doctor saw the girl, and judged she was suffering from the +effects of drink. He prescribed a sedative mixture, but the girl got +worse, and, after a further convulsion, died on the following morning. +The medical man whose assistant had seen her the previous night, gave +a certificate that death was due to delirium tremens and syncope, and +Matilda Clover was buried at Tooting. + +A few weeks afterwards a woman called Ellen Donworth, who resided in +Duke Street, Westminster Bridge Road, is stated to have received a +letter, in consequence of which she went out between six and seven in +the evening. About eight o'clock she was found in Waterloo Road in +great agony, and died while she was being conveyed to St. Thomas's +Hospital. Before her death she made a statement, that a man with a +dark beard and wearing a high hat had given her "two drops of white +stuff" to drink. In this case a post-mortem examination was made and +on analysis both strychnine and morphine were found in the stomach, +proving that the woman had been poisoned. + +These cases had almost been forgotten, when, some six months +afterwards, attention was again aroused by the mysterious deaths of +two girls named Alice Marsh and Emma Shrivell, who lodged in Stamford +Street. On the evening of April 11, 1892, a man, who one of the girls +in her dying testimony called "Fred," and who she described as a +doctor, called to see them, and together they partook of tea. The man +stayed till 2 a.m., and during the evening gave them both "three long +pills." + +Half an hour after the man left the house, both girls were found in +a dying condition. While they were being removed to the hospital +Alice Marsh died in the cab, and Emma Shrivell lived for only six +hours afterwards. The result of an analysis of the stomach and organs +revealed the fact that death in each case had been caused by strychnine. + +There was absolutely no evidence beyond the vague description of the +man for the police to work upon, and this case, like the others, +with which at first it was not connected, seemed likely to remain +among the unsolved mysteries; when by the following curious chain of +circumstances, the perpetrator of these cold-blooded crimes was at last +brought to justice. + +Some time after the deaths of the two girls Marsh and Shrivell, a Dr. +Harper, of Barnstaple, received a letter, in which the writer stated, +that he had indisputable evidence that the doctor's son, who had +recently qualified as a medical practitioner in London, had poisoned +two girls--Marsh and Shrivell--and that he, the writer, required +£1,500 to suppress it. Dr. Harper placed this letter in the hands +of the police, with the result, that on June 3, 1892, a man named +Thomas Neill, or Neill Cream, was arrested on the charge of sending +a threatening letter. He was brought up at Bow Street on this charge +for several days, when it transpired that in the preceding November +a well-known London physician had also received a letter, in which +the writer declared that he had evidence to show that the physician +had poisoned a Miss Clover with strychnine, which evidence he could +purchase for £2,500, and so save himself from ruin. + +Neill Cream was remanded, and in the meanwhile the body of Matilda +Clover was exhumed, and the contents of the stomach sent to Dr. +Stevenson, one of the Government analysts, for examination. He +discovered the presence of strychnine, and came to the conclusion that +some one had administered a fatal dose to her. + +An inquest was then held on the body of Matilda Clover, with the result +that James Neill, or Neill Cream, was committed on the charge of wilful +murder. + +This man's lodgings were searched after his arrest, and a curious +piece of paper was discovered, on which, written in pencil in his +handwriting, were the initials "M. C.," and opposite to them two dates, +and then a third date, viz. October 20, which was the date of Matilda +Clover's death. On the same paper, in connection with the initials "E. +S.," was also found two dates, one being April 11, which was the date +of Emma Shrivell's death. There was also found in his possession a +paper bearing the address of Marsh and Shrivell, and it was afterwards +proved that he had said on more than one occasion that he knew them +well. + +In his room a quantity of small pills were discovered, each containing +from one-sixteenth to one-twenty-second of a grain of strychnine, also +fifty-four other bottles of pills, seven of which contained strychnine, +and a bottle containing one hundred and sixty-eight pills, each +containing one-twenty-second of a grain of strychnine. These, it is +supposed, he obtained as an agent for the Harvey Drug Co. of America. +It was found he had purchased a quantity of empty gelatine capsules +from a chemist in Parliament Street, which there is little doubt he had +used to administer a number of the small pills in a poisonous dose. + +Thomas Neill, or Neill Cream, was tried for the wilful murder of +Matilda Clover at the Central Criminal Court, before Mr. Justice +Hawkins, on October 18, 1892, the trial lasting five days. + +It transpired that Cream, who had received some medical education and +styled himself a "doctor," came to this country from America on October +1, 1891, and on arriving in London first stayed at Anderton's Hotel, +in Fleet Street. Shortly afterwards he took apartments in Lambeth, and +became engaged to a lady living at Berkhampstead. + +He was identified as having been seen in the company of Matilda Clover, +and also by a policeman, as the man who left the house in Stamford +Street on the night that Marsh and Shrivell were murdered. + +Dr. Stevenson, who made the analysis of the body of Matilda Clover +on May 6, 1892, stated in his evidence that he found strychnine in +the stomach, liver, and brain, and that quantitatively he obtained +one-sixteenth of a grain of strychnine from two pounds of animal +matter. He also examined the organs from the bodies of Alice Marsh and +Emma Shrivell. He found 6·39 grains of strychnine in the stomach and +its contents of Alice Marsh, and 1·6 grain of strychnine in the stomach +and its contents, also 1·46 grain in the vomit, and ·2 grain in a +small portion of the liver of Emma Shrivell. + +The jury, after deliberating for ten minutes, returned a verdict of +guilty, and Thomas Neill, or Neill Cream, as he was otherwise known, +was sentenced to death. He was executed on November 15, 1892. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +THE HORSFORD CASE + + +TOWARDS the close of the year 1897, a Mrs. Holmes, a widow, was living +with her three children at Stoneley, near Kimbolton. She had a cousin +named Walter Horsford, a well-to-do young farmer who occupied a farm at +Spaldwick about twelve miles away, and who frequently came to Stoneley +to visit her. + +A romantic attachment eventually sprang up between them, which resulted +in a too intimate acquaintance. + +After a while Horsford's affection began to wane, and in the end he +married another lady. + +Shortly afterwards Mrs. Holmes left Stoneley and took up her residence +at St. Neots. + +About December of the same year she wrote a letter to Horsford, +informing him of her condition, a piece of news which appears to have +greatly upset him, as he was in fear the information might reach his +wife. + +On December 28 he called at a chemist's shop in Thrapstone, a +neighbouring town, and asked for a shilling's worth of strychnine, some +prussic acid, arsenic, and carbolic acid, which he stated he required +for poisoning rats. The chemist, to whom he was a stranger, requested +him to bring a witness, which he did, and the chemist's poison register +was duly signed by Horsford and a man who introduced him. He took the +poisons, which consisted of ninety grains of strychnine, one pound of +arsenic, and some prussic acid and carbolic acid, away with him. + +About a week afterwards Mrs. Holmes received a letter from Horsford. It +was taken in by her daughter, who recognised his handwriting, and the +envelope is also supposed to have contained two packets of strychnine. + +On the evening of January 7, 1898, Mrs. Holmes retired to bed, +apparently in her usual health, about half-past nine. The only other +persons in the house were her daughter Annie, her son Percy, and her +infant. The daughter noticed that her mother took a glass of water +upstairs with her, which was an unusual circumstance. On going to her +mother's bedroom shortly afterwards, she found her suffering great +pain, and she saw the glass, now almost empty, standing on a chest of +drawers. + +Percy Holmes ran out and called in the assistance of some neighbours, +and then went for a doctor. When medical aid arrived, the unfortunate +woman was in convulsions and died shortly afterwards. + +The day after her death the police searched the house, but failed to +find any trace of poison, and an inquest was held on January 8, which +Horsford was summoned to attend. + +In his evidence before the coroner, he swore that he had neither +written to nor seen the deceased woman. The medical evidence proved +that death was caused by strychnine. + +The inquest was adjourned for a week, and in the meanwhile Mrs. +Holmes was buried. From information received by the police, a further +search was made in the house, with the result that two packets were +discovered under the feather bed in Mrs. Holmes' bedroom. One packet of +buff-coloured paper was found to contain about thirty-three grains of +strychnine in powder, on which was written the words, "One dose. Take +as told," in Horsford's handwriting. On the second packet, the contents +of which had been used, was written, "Take in a little water. It is +quite harmless." This was also in Horsford's handwriting. + +On January 10, Walter Horsford was arrested on the charge of perjury +committed at the inquest, and it was resolved to have another +examination made of the body of the deceased woman. On examination of +further documents and letters discovered by the police, the charge of +wilful murder was added to corrupt perjury against Horsford, and he was +committed for trial. + +The trial took place on June 2, 1898, at Huntingdon, before Mr. Justice +Hawkins. + +Dr. Stevenson stated in his evidence, he first made an analysis of a +portion of the body of Mrs. Holmes on January 19, and extracted 1·31 +grain of strychnine, but no other poison. Subsequently he examined +the two packets discovered under the bed, and found one contained 33¾ +grains of powdered strychnine, and the other, which presented the +appearance of having had the powder shaken out, a few minute crystals +of strychnine. In each case it was the pure alkaloid. The body was +exhumed nineteen days after death, and he then made an analysis of all +the chief organs, and obtained therefrom a total quantity of 3·69 +grains of strychnine. Death usually occurred about half an hour after +the commencement of the symptoms. He judged there could not have been +less than ten grains of strychnine in the body at the time of death. + +The jury found Walter Horsford guilty, and he was sentenced to death. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +THE GREAT AMERICAN POISON MYSTERY + + +ONE of the most carefully planned murders by means of poison in modern +times was investigated at the trial of Roland B. Molineux, who was +charged with causing the death of Mrs. Catherine J. Adams in New York +in 1899. + +On November 10, 1898, a Mr. Henry C. Barnett, a produce booker, who was +a member of the Knickerbocker Athletic Club, one of the most prominent +social organizations in New York, received by post at the club a sample +box of Kutnow's Powder. He was in the habit of taking this and similar +preparations for simple ailments, and soon after receiving the box he +took a dose of its contents. He became ill immediately afterwards, +and was thought to be suffering from diphtheria. That he had a slight +attack of this disease there is little doubt, as the fact was proved +from a bacteriological examination made by his medical attendant. He +left his bed earlier than the doctor advised, and died presumably of +heart failure. + +The contents of the box, however, were examined, which led to the +discovery that the powder had been tampered with and mixed with cyanide +of mercury; and although Mr. Barnett had died from natural causes, it +seemed clear an attempt had been made to poison him by some one who +knew he was in the habit of taking this powder. The investigation, +however, does not appear to have been carried farther. + +The next chapter in the story occurred in connection with a Mr. +Harry Cornish, who occupied the position of physical director to the +Knickerbocker Athletic Club. + +A day or two before Christmas in the same year, a packet directed to +him was delivered by post at his address. It contained a box, in which, +on opening, he found at one end a silver article for holding matches +or toothpicks; at the other end was a bottle labelled "Emerson's +Bromo-seltzer," and between the two was packed some soft tissue paper. + +Mr. Cornish was at first under the impression that some one had sent +him the packet as a present. After removing the articles from the box, +he threw it and the wrapper into his wastepaper basket, but on second +thoughts he cut the address from the wrapper and kept it. + +The bottle, labelled "Bromo-seltzer," which is a saline preparation +well known in America, was sealed over the top and bore the usual +revenue stamp. After tearing off the outside wrapper, Mr. Cornish +placed the bottle and the silver holder on his desk. + +On the following Sunday he remarked to his aunt, a Mrs. Catherine +Adams, that he had received a present. Mrs. Adams and her daughter Mrs. +Rogers joked him about it, saying he must have some admirer, and was +afraid to bring his present home, as the sender's name was probably +upon it. So on Tuesday night Mr. Cornish took the bottle and the silver +holder home with him, and presented them to Mrs. Rogers, saying they +were no use to him and she might have them. + +The next morning Mrs. Adams complained of a headache, and her daughter +suggested a dose of the Bromo-seltzer. Mr. Cornish was present, and +mixed a teaspoonful of the preparation from the bottle with a glass +of water, and gave it to his aunt. After drinking it she at once +exclaimed, "My, how bitter that is!" + +"Why, that's all right!" said Mr. Cornish, as he took a drink from the +glass. + +A few moments afterwards Mrs. Adams collapsed, and died within a short +time. Mr. Cornish was seized with violent vomiting, which doubtless +saved his life, and he recovered. + +A post-mortem examination revealed the fact that Mrs. Adams had died +from cyanide poisoning; and on the bottle of Bromo-seltzer being +analysed the contents were found to have been mixed with cyanide of +mercury. + +For a long time the affair seemed a complete mystery, and the police +investigations appeared likely to be fruitless. Then the particulars of +the death of Mr. Barnett, who was Chairman of the House Committee of +the Knickerbocker Club, were brought to light; and connecting them with +the fact that Mr. Cornish was also a prominent member of the club, and +had received the bottle of Bromo-seltzer by post in the same manner, it +seemed highly probable that both the poisoned packets which contained +cyanide of mercury, had been sent by the same hand. + +Further examination proved that the bottle used was not a genuine +Bromo-seltzer one, and that the label had been removed from a genuine +bottle and carefully pasted on that sent to Mr. Cornish. + +A firm of druggists in Cincinnati then came forward and stated, that +as far back as May 31, 1898, they had received a written application +signed "H. C. Barnett" for a sample box of pills, and another similar +application on December 21, 1898, which was signed "H. Cornish." + +Both these applications were found to be in the same handwriting, +which was also strikingly similar to the address on the packet sent +to Mr. Cornish, which he had fortunately kept. The address given +by the applicant who called himself "H. C. Barnett," was 257, West +Forty-second Street; New York, a place where private letter-boxes are +rented for callers. The address given by the applicant signing himself +"H. Cornish," was a similar place at 1,620, Broadway, in the same +city. From these facts it seemed evident that an attempt had been made +to poison both Barnett and Cornish by some one who knew them, and +the poisoner had concealed his identity by employing the names of his +intended victims. + +The nature of the poison used, cyanide of mercury, was also a slight +clue, as it is a substance which is not used in medicine and must in +all probability have been specially prepared for the purpose, by some +one with a good knowledge of chemistry. + +At the coroner's inquest, which began on February 9, 1899, certain +facts were elicited that tended to bring suspicion on Roland B. +Molineux, who was also a member of the Knickerbocker Club and well +acquainted with Barnett and Cornish. He was also known to have +quarrelled with the latter. At the close of the inquest Molineux was +arrested, and removed to the Tombs prison. + +Owing to legal technicalities in the original indictment, which charged +him with the murder of both Mr. Barnett and Mrs. Adams, he was twice +liberated, and then for the third time arrested. + +The trial of Molineux for the murder of Mrs. Adams was a memorable one, +and lasted nearly three months. It began on November 14, 1899, at the +Central Criminal Court, New York, and was not concluded till February +11, 1900. + +The evidence was entirely circumstantial. Most of the experts in +handwriting who were examined declared that the address on the packet +sent to Mr. Cornish was in Molineux's writing, and that he had also +written both applications to the druggists in Cincinnati. Further, +Molineux was engaged as a chemist to a colour factory in which cyanide +of mercury was used, which would enable him either to make or procure +that special poison, from which only three other fatal cases had been +recorded. + +No witnesses were called for the defence, and the jury found Roland B. +Molineux guilty of "murder in the first degree," which, according to +American law, is murder with premeditation. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +SOME CURIOUS METHODS EMPLOYED BY SECRET POISONERS + + +THE strange and curious methods employed by poisoners to accomplish +their deadly purpose, form an interesting study to students of human +nature. The poisoner generally sets to work on a preconceived and +carefully thought-out plan, which he proceeds to carry out with all the +cunning he possesses. The methods that can be employed to introduce a +poisonous substance into the human body are necessarily limited; and +although they are varied at times according to the ingenuity in which +the deed is planned, we find the poisoner with all his craft shows but +little originality, and the modes used in ancient times are repeated +down through the centuries to the present day. + +There seems little doubt that the earliest method employed by man was +the poisoned weapon. + +The use of the poisoned arrow-head by primitive man goes back to a +period of remote antiquity. Among the cave remains of the palæolithic +period, arrow-and spear-heads of bone have been found marked with +depressions for containing poison, and this method of introducing +poison seems to have been practised by most of the aboriginal races. + +Arrow poisons were well known to the Greeks and their word "toxicon" +signified a poisonous substance into which the arrow-"toxon" was +dipped. Homer alludes to the use of poisoned arrows in the "Odyssey," +and Ovid mentions the bile and blood of vipers as being employed to +poison weapons. The Scythians and the tribes of the Caucasus were +reputed to use Viper poison mixed with the serum of human blood that +had decomposed. The Celts and the Gauls, according to Pliny, dipped +their arrow-heads in hellebore juice; and down to the seventh century +we find poisoned weapons were commonly used in Europe. + +During the Middle Ages until the sixteenth century, the poisoned +dagger or sword formed the favourite weapon of the assassin, and the +preparation of the blade for this purpose was brought almost to a fine +art in Spain. It is recorded that Lorenzo de Medici was stabbed with a +poisoned dagger; and the Duke de Biscaglia, the second husband of the +famous Lucrezia Borgia, nearly fell a victim to the assassin's knife on +the steps of St. Peter's. + +Of all other methods employed by poisoners, the administration of +the lethal dose through the medium of food or drink seems ever to +have been the favourite. The poisoned wine or cake recurs with a +somewhat monotonous frequency in the history of the poisoner, from +the earliest times down to the present day. Women especially seem to +have been attracted by this mode of poisoning, a fact probably due +to their control and direction of domestic matters, which rendered +the introduction of a poisonous substance into food or drink an easy +matter. Occasionally they have fallen victims to their own evil +designs, as instanced in the case of Rosamond the wife of Helmichis, +King of Lombardy, in the year 575. Wishing to rid herself of her +husband, she gave him a cup of poisoned wine on coming from his bath. +The king drank part of it, and suspecting its nature from the strange +effect it produced, he insisted she should drink the remainder, with +the result that both died shortly afterwards. + +The Hindoos have an ingenious method of using powdered glass as a +lethal agent, either by mixing it with sherbet or some kind of food. In +such cases the substance acts by its irritant action on the stomach or +intestines, while at the same time, if successful, no trace of poison +can be discovered in the bodily organs. + +A celebrated case in which this agent was used occurred in India +in 1874, when the Gaekwar, or reigning prince of Baroda was tried +for attempting to kill his political resident, Colonel Phayre, by +administering powdered glass to him in sherbet. + +The Gaekwar was tried before a court consisting of three Indian princes +and three English judges, and was defended by the late Mr. Serjeant +Ballantine. The princes returned a verdict of "Not proven," while the +judges decided that he was guilty, with the result that the Gaekwar was +deposed. + +The sweetmeat was a favourite form employed to administer poison +during the Middle Ages. Such confections were usually handed round to +the guests after a meal in Italy. Princes and nobles frequently used +this method of ridding themselves of an enemy; and if the plot failed +in the first instance, they were always ready to try it again, for, +as Cæsar Borgia is stated to have once exclaimed, "what has failed +at dinner-time will succeed at supper-time." Catherine de Medici +introduced this method into France, and her Florentine perfumers were +said to be adepts in mixing arsenic with sweetmeats. + +The poisoned flowers of mediæval romance, and poisoned gloves and +boots, which figure so often in legend and story as lethal media, we +must dismiss as mere fables of an age when the historian drew largely +on his imagination. + +The "poison ring," with its carefully concealed tiny spike, which was +intended to penetrate the flesh of the victim, might perhaps have set +up blood-poisoning, as would a similar wound if inflicted by a rusty +nail. + +The use of rings with secret receptacles to contain poisons we have +already mentioned. Among the gems in the British Museum there is an +onyx which has been hollowed out to form a receptacle for poison. The +face of the stone is engraved with the head of a horned faun. To take +the poison, it was only necessary to bite through the thin shell of the +onyx and swallow the contents. + +When the gold deposited by Camillus in the Capitol was taken away, it +is recorded that the custodian responsible for it "broke the stone of +his ring in his mouth," and died shortly afterwards. + +The poisoners of the seventeenth century not content with introducing +poison into wine and other drinks, sought to improve on this method, by +preparing the goblet or cup in such a way, that it would impregnate any +liquid that was placed in it. + +There is record of one François Belot who made a speciality of this +art, and, it is said, received a comfortable income therefrom; but he +fitly ended his days by being broken on the wheel on June 10, 1679. + +According to a contemporary writer, his secret method consisted in +cramming a toad with arsenic, placing it in a silver goblet, and, after +pricking its head, crushing it in the vessel. While this operation was +being performed, certain charms were uttered. + +"I know a secret," stated Belot, "such, that in doctoring a cup with +a toad, and what I put into it, if fifty persons chanced to drink from +it afterwards, even if it were washed and rinsed, they would all be +done for, and the cup could only be purified by throwing it into a hot +fire. After having thus poisoned the cup, I should not try it upon a +human being, but upon a dog, and I should entrust the cup to nobody." +And yet Belot's powers were believed in, and he enjoyed a substantial +reputation in his day. + +His boasting is on a par with that of the magician Blessis, who +flourished about the same period. He declared to the world that he had +discovered a method of manipulating mirrors in such a way that any one +who looked in them received his death-blow! + +The stories of the "poisoned shirt," which was a favourite medium with +the poisoners of the seventeenth century, are not, however, without a +substratum of fact. + +The tail of the shirt was prepared by soaking it in a strong solution +of arsenic or corrosive sublimate. The object was to produce a violent +dermatitis, with ulceration about the perineum and neighbouring parts, +which should compel the victim to keep his bed. Medical men would then +be summoned in due course, and would probably judge the patient to be +suffering from syphilis, and administer mercury in large quantities. +The fatal dose could then be introduced at leisure. + +The notorious La Bosse left on record her method of preparing the +"poisoned shirt." The garment was first to be washed, and the tail +then soaked in a strong solution of arsenic, so that it only looked +"a little rusty," as if it had been ill-washed and was stiffer than +usual. "The effect," she concludes, "it should produce on the wearer +is a violent inflammation and intense pain, and that when one came to +examine him, one would not detect anything." + +The Duke of Savoy is said to have succumbed to the effects of a +poisoned shirt of this kind. + +Some time ago Dr. Nass, a French medical man, made some interesting +experiments, with a view to testing the truth of these stories. He +carefully shaved a portion of the left lumbar region of a guinea-pig, +and gently rubbed the skin with a paste containing arsenic, in the +proportion of one in ten. He repeated this operation several times +during the day. Shortly afterwards the animal became prostrate, the +eyes became dull, it assumed a cholera-like aspect, and in forty-eight +hours died. The skin on which the paste had been applied remained +unchanged and unbroken, and showed no sign of ulceration. On examining +the internal organs after death, fatty degeneration of the viscera was +found, as is usual after arsenical poisoning. + +This experiment does not, of course, actually prove the effect of a +shirt impregnated with arsenic being worn in direct contact with the +skin, but it shows that arsenic may be introduced into the body by +simple, gentle friction on an unbroken skin, and that the poisoned +shirt theory was possible. + +The administration of poison in the form of medicine is another method +which has often been criminally employed. In France, the enema was at +one time frequently made use of for introducing arsenic, corrosive +sublimate, and opium into the system. The poisoner's aim, in such +cases, was to attribute the fatal effects which followed to disease. +Within recent years a curious case was tried at the Paris Court of +Assizes, in which a lady was charged with attempting to poison her +husband. It was known that the couple had lived unhappily together, +and arrangements had been made for a divorce. One morning the husband +complained of a severe headache, and his wife suggested a dose of +antipyrine, which she gave him in some mineral water. He remarked to +her at the time that the draught had a peculiar taste. Later in the +day she administered sundry cups of coffee to him; but he grew rapidly +worse and at night a doctor was summoned. He failed to diagnose the +complaint, and called in other medical men, who were equally puzzled. +One thing which they all noticed, was a peculiar dilation of the pupils +of the patient's eyes. + +A consultation was held the next day, and shortly afterwards one of the +medical men received a note from the lady, in which she stated, that +her husband "was black. He was dead, more dead than any man I ever saw." + +The doctor at once went to see the patient, and found him in a state +of collapse. He bled him twice and injected caffeine, but he still +remained motionless. After a time it occurred to the doctor that +the patient's symptoms resembled those of atropine poisoning, and, +resorting to other measures, he eventually brought him round. Then he +remembered, that the lady had previously asked him for some morphine +for herself, and when he had refused it, she requested some atropine +for her dog's eyes. He wrote her a prescription for a solution of +atropine, containing ten per cent. of the drug, and took it to the +chemist himself. On further inquiries it was proved that the lady had +procured atropine upon various other occasions by copying the doctor's +prescription and forging his signature. + +At the trial, the medical evidence was very conflicting; but the +concensus of opinion was in favour of the theory that atropine had +been administered in small, repeated doses. The accused woman declared +in her defence, that atropine had been put into the medicine for her +husband in mistake by the chemist who had dispensed it. There was +no evidence to support this theory, and she was found guilty and +sentenced to five years' penal servitude. + +A strange method, which said to have been employed by the Borgias, and +was afterwards used in France, was a combination of arsenic with the +secretions or products of decomposition of an animal to which it had +been administered. The poison was prepared by cutting open a pig, and +well sprinkling the carcase with arsenic or other poison. Then it was +left to putrefy, after which the liquids that ran from the decaying +mass were collected, and these formed the finished poison. + + * * * * * + +As science advances, opening up fresh fields for research and poisons +of a still more deadly nature are revealed, so the chemist sets to work +to discover methods for their certain detection, and thus renders the +poisoners' fiendish work more difficult. + +It is well to remember that even the most deadly poisons have their +proper use, and in skilled hands prove valuable instruments in +combating many diseases that afflict suffering humanity. + + +THE END + + +Butler & Tanner, The Selwood Printing Works, Frome, and London. + + + + + ENGLAND'S BEST VALUE + + BONGOLA + + TEA + + HAS +NO+ EQUAL. + + * * * * * + + CONNOISSEURS OF +COFFEE+ + + DRINK THE + + RED + WHITE + & BLUE + + _Delicious for Breakfast & after Dinner._ + + In making, use +less quantity+, it being so much stronger than + +ordinary COFFEE.+ + + + + +Corrections. + +The first line indicates the original, the second the correction. + +p. 19: + + And incident which happened to the army led by Mark Antony + An incident which happened to the army led by Mark Antony + +p. 24: + + the view of destorying the effects + the view of destroying the effects + +p. 33: + + violent pain and vomitting, + violent pain and vomiting, + +p. 33: + + as the poision was called, at his bidding. + as the poison was called, at his bidding. + +p. 40: + + and was arrested at Liége + and was arrested at Liège + +p. 45: + + ARSENIC has, perhaps, been more frequently used than any other + poison for criminal puposes. + + ARSENIC has, perhaps, been more frequently used than any other + poison for criminal purposes. + +p. 60: + + supposed by the early Greeks to have orginated from the foam of the + dog Cerberus. + + supposed by the early Greeks to have originated from the foam of the + dog Cerberus. + +p. 65: + + to which in many ways it is closely alied, + to which in many ways it is closely allied, + +p. 82: + + In was then taken downstairs, + It was then taken downstairs, + +p. 84: + + The symptoms appeared at a time whch would + The symptoms appeared at a time which would + +p. 85: + + The narcotic properities of the poppy + The narcotic properties of the poppy + +p. 106: + + as a medium for getting rid of h r niece. + as a medium for getting rid of her niece. + +p. 108: + + poisons herself with prussic acid of unheard-of strength, + poisons herself with prussic acid of unheard of strength, + +p. 112: + + in connection with the initals "E. S.," + in connection with the initials "E. S.," + +p. 113: + + and 1·6 grain of strychinne + and 1·6 grain of strychnine + +p. 118: + + but on seccond thoughts he cut the address + but on second thoughts he cut the address + +p. 119: + + was also a slight clue, as it it a substance + was also a slight clue, as it is a substance + +p. 122: + + Th eHindoos have an ingenious + The Hindoos have an ingenious + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Poison Romance and Poison Mysteries, by +C. J. S. Thompson + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 43840 *** |