the doctor; he, however, could not tell its
nature until it was tested.

"Item, another phial, with half a pint of clear liquid with a white
sediment, about which Moreau said the same thing as before.

"Item, a small earthenware pot containing two or three lumps of prepared
opium.

"Item, a folded paper containing two drachms of corrosive sublimate
powdered.

"Next, a little box containing a sort of stone known as infernal stone.

"Next, a paper containing one ounce of opium.

"Next, a piece of pure antimony weighing three ounces.

"Next, a packet of powder on which was written: 'To check the flow of
blood.' Moreau said that it was quince flower and quince buds dried.

"Item, a pack sealed with six seals, on which was written, 'Papers to be
burnt in case of death.' In this twenty-four letters were found, said to
have been written by the Marquise de Brinvilliers.

"Item, another packet sealed with six seals, on which a similar
inscription was written. In this were twenty-seven pieces of paper on
each of which was written: 'Sundry curious secrets.'

"Item, another packet with six more seals, on which a similar inscription
was written. In this were found seventy-five livres, addressed to
different persons. Besides all these, in the box there were two bonds,
one from the marquise for 30,000, and one from Penautier for 10,000
francs, their dates corresponding to the time of the deaths of M.
d'Aubray and the Sieur de St. Laurent."

The difference in the amount shows that Sainte-Croix had a tariff, and
that parricide was more expensive than simple assassination. Thus in his
death did Sainte-Croix bequeath the poisons to his mistress and his
friend; not content with his own crimes in the past, he wished to be
their accomplice in the future.

The first business of the officials was to submit the different
substances to analysis, and to experiment with them on animals. The
report follows of Guy Simon, an apothecary, who was charged to undertake
the analysis and the experiments:

"This artificial poison reveals its nature on examination. It is so
disguised that one fails to recognise it, so subtle that it deceives the
scientific, so elusive that it escapes the doctor's eye: experiments seem
to be at fault with this poison, rules useless, aphorisms ridiculous.
The surest experiments are made by the use of the elements or upon
animals. In water, ordinary poison falls by its own weight. The water
is superior,