BORGIA POISONS.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 13 December 1924, Page 12

BORGIA POISONS.

A MYTH EXPLODED. The constant criminal trials in which poison plays a tragical part bring to mind the myth that the Borgias and other “monsters” of historical infamy Possessed knowledge of secret poisons which are unknown to-day. it was shared by their contemporaries, and had its origin as much in the general ignorance of the natural causes of sudoon death as in the immunity with which the poisoner could practise his art

Post-mortems were unknown until the 15th century, when the Popes removed the ancient ban on dissecting the human body. Not that that helped much in detecting murder by poisoning, rot no certain method of chemical analysis was discovered before 1836. Hence in an atmosphere of mystery and terror grew up the fantastic legend ol deadly drugs and perfmes which destroyed at a touch or a sniff • of great personages removed by the scent or a, bouquet or the wearing of a glove; of precious stones, which changed colour in proximity with secret poisons. And so, when people of importance died"— probably of appendicitis, peritonitis or angina pectoris, and especially if their bodies bocome discoloured or decomposed quickly—death was attributed to poison administrated by their enemies. As a matter of fact, so far from the science of toxicology being better understood m the Renaissance period than it is now, the number of known poisons has more than doubled since the beginning of the 19th century and the staple poison of the 15th and 16th centuries was nothing more subtle than arsenic. Even the famous Acqua Tofiana, or Acquetta, de Perugiar, was only arsenic mixed in the brine of boiled bog s flesh— a preparation which was supposed to he more deadly than a plain solution.

In short, it has been said, with much truth, that arsenic was practically synonymous with poisoning. Vege"table poisons were practically unknown, although the ancient Egyptians, and later the Romans, knew of prussic acid from the distilling of peach juice, the alternative poisons of the Renaissance appear to have been corrosive sublimate—a horrible expedient about which there could have been no secret”—and cantharides, an animal poison which enjoyed some popularity. CJn such slender and primitive resources have been built up the legend ot the Borgia crimes, although there is not ,a shred of historical evidence worth a rap to associate this much absued family with poisons, even in the worst enormities with which they are charged, it is true, of course, that poisoning was one ot the commonest forms of assassination.in past times, and was punished ferociously on conviction because it was then so difficult to detect; but much of the romance of historical crime disappears when it is realised that the methods used are those emnWed by the clumsiest poisoners of modern times.