About the middle of the. 17 c, this horrible practice sculls to have first become prevalent in France. and under similar circumstances, the agents being married women, and their husbands the victims; and as in Italy, the extent to which the practice was carried was first made known by the clergy. The government, acting on the informa tion thus obtained, seized and imprisoned in the Bastille two Italians named Exili and Glaser,who were suspected of having been the manufacturers and venders of the poisons. Glaser died in prison: but Exili, becoming acquainted with another prisoner named St. Croix, communicated to him his secret, which the latter made considerable use of after his release, compounding in particular the poison known as "succession powder," which subsequently became so celebrated. It, was the same St. Croix who played such a prominent part in the tragical history of the marquise de Brinvilliers (q.v.). Penautier, the treasurer of the province of Languedoc, and the cardinal de Boozy, were both pupils of St. Croix. and m'inaged, the one to pave the way for his own advancement, and the other to rid himself or his numerous creditors, by the administration of poison; but the great influence of these men, and the want of direct evidence, barred all proceedings against them. Secret poisoning now became fashionable; the passions of jealousy, revenge, avarice, and even petty spite, were all satisfied in the same way, and as a neces• sary consequence, other offenses decreased 3n proportion. The prisons teemed with suspected criminals, and the "ehambre ardente" was instituted for the special purpose of trying these offenders. In Paris, this trade was chiefly in the hands of two women named Lavoisin and Lavigoreux, who combined with the ostensible occupation of mid wife that of fortune-teller. and foretold to wives the decease of their husbands, to needy
heirs that of their rich relatives, takMg care at the same time to be instrumental in fulfill ing their own predictions. Their houses were frequented by numbers of all classes, both from Paris mid the provinces, among whom were the celebrated marshal de Lux embourg (q.v.), the duchess de Bouillon, and the countess de Soissons; the two former of these, however, went merely from curiosity. Lavoisin and her confederate were at last discovered, tried, condemned, and burned alive in the Place de Greve, Feb. 22, 1680; and from 30 to SO of their accomplices were hanged in various cities of France. So common had this atrocious practice been, that madame de Sevigue, in one of her letters, expresses a fear lest the terms " Frenchman" and " poisoner" should become synony mous. For two years after the execution of the two Parisian poisoners, the crime con tinued to be largely committed, being fostered by the impunity with which offenders of of high rank were allowed to escape; and it was not till more than 100 persons had died at the stake or on the gallows, that the government succeeded in suppressing it. Tho mania for secret poisoning has not since been revived to the same extent, though isolated instances of its practice haveoccasionally been discovered, particularly in England, where, within the last 40 years, very extraordinary disclosures have at different times been made of the prevalence of this frightful crime among the laboring classes in several of the rural districts. For further information consult Beckmann's History of Inventions, the historians of the period of James L's reign, the French Causes Celebres, and Mac kay's Popular Delusions. •