823 
P O I 
afcribed to it. Nor is it afcertained how long fhe car¬ 
ried on her murderous practices with impunity and un- 
difcovered. Labat fays, that, when he was at Civita 
Vecchia in 1709, the viceroy of Naples, then count Daun, 
made the difcovery. It was long before (he was fecured, 
as flie was extremely cautious, and often changed her 
abode or retired into convents. At laft fhe was betrayed ; 
and, although in a convent, was feized and carried to the 
Caftel del Uovo, where fhe was examined. Cardinal Pig- 
natelli, then archbifhop of Naples, indignant at the viola¬ 
tion of a religious fandfuary, threatened to excommuni¬ 
cate the whole city, if fhe was not delivered up to him ; 
and the people were ready to rife. But the fagacious 
viceroy caufed a report to be fpread, that fhe and her 
accomplices had determined, upon the fame day, to poifon 
all thefprings in the city,the fruits brought to market, and 
the public granaries. The manoeuvre fucceeded. The cre¬ 
dulous people were now clamorous for her punifhment,and 
law with fatisfadfion the perfons whom five accufed of hav¬ 
ing purchafed her wafer taken from the churches and mo- 
nafteries. Some of inferior birth were executed publicly ; 
tlicfe of higher rank fecretly in prifon ; and the whole 
city refounded with the prail'es of the viceroy, whole 
energy had faved it from general deftrudtion. A kind of 
compromife was entered into with the cardinal 5 in con- 
iequence of which, Tofana, after being ftrangled, was 
thrown at night into the court of the convent, by way of 
teftifying fome refpedl for the rights of the church. But 
the reverend traveller muft have either been mifinformed 
as to the adtual execution of this Medea, or fhe muft have 
been refufcitated; for Garelli exprefsly fays that fhe was 
alive in prifon at Naples, when he wrote to Hoffmann, 
not long before 1718 ; and Keyfler, who vifited Naples in 
1730, likewife aflerts, that fhe was then living in prifon, 
and that few ftrangers left the city without going to fee 
her. He defcribes her as a little and very old woman. 
The Roman ladies had quickly availed themfelves of 
Tofana’s difcovery; for it was remarked in 1659, that 
many hufbands died when they became difagreeable to 
their wives; and feveral of the clergy alfo gave informa¬ 
tion, that, for fome time paft, various perfons had con- 
feffed themfelves guilty of poifoning. This led to the 
detedfion of a fociety of young married women (who had, 
for their prefident, an old woman of the name of Hie- 
ronyma Spara, a pretended fortune-teller), as the perpe¬ 
trators of thefe murders. On being put to the torture, 
they all confeffed except Spara, who feemed to rely upon 
the protection of powerful individuals whom fhe had for¬ 
merly (erved. But fhe was left to her fate, and was hanged 
along with her afliftant, one Gratiofa. Others were 
afterwards hanged, or whipt and baniihed. Spara, who 
was a Sicilian, had acquired her knowdedge from Tofana 
at Palermo. 
Pope Alexander VII. immediately on the difcovery and 
punifhment of thofe who dealt in poifon in his capital, 
publifhed an edidf forbidding the diftillation of aquaf ortis, 
or the purchafe of any of its ingredients, without the per- 
miffion of the government; which Gmelin confiders as an 
artifice to miflead the people as to the real compofition of 
the poifon, or as originating in the abfurd nomenclature 
of the chemifts of former times, .who called arfenic con¬ 
crete aquafortis. But the prudence of the pope was ren¬ 
dered fruitlefs; for we are informed by Gayot di Pitaval 
(Caufes Celebres, vol. i. Amfterd. 1764), but on whatautho- 
rity he does not ftate, that Tofana’s fatal fecret w'as dif- 
clofed by the indifcretion of the judges at Naples, to 
whom fhe had made confeffion of her crime. The whole 
city foon knew that fhe employed in its compofition a 
very common herb, and that its preparation was other- 
wife eafy; and in this way the art of poifoning became 
very common in Naples, where, Keyfler fays, it was Hill 
fecretly pradfifed when he vifited Italy ; and Archenholz, 
who w'as there in 1780, Hates, that Aqua Tofana was then 
in ufe, although its compofition was only known to a few ; 
but Jofeph Frank, who was long profeffor in Pavia, and 
S O N. 
has written a work on Toxicology (Handbook dor Toxi- 
cnloyie, 1803), regards this as an unfounded calumny, and 
aflerts that it no longer exifts or is heard of. 
Aqua Tofana is defcribed as being as limpid as rock- 
water, and without tafte, and hence it could be adminif- 
tered without exciting fufpicion. The abbe Gagliani 
adds, that there was not a lady in Naples who had not 
fome of it lying openly on her toilet among her perfumes, 
in a phial known only to Iverfelf. It was generally 
believed, that theeffedf of this poifon was certain death ; 
and that it could be fo tempered or managed, as to prove 
fatal in any determinate time, from a few days to a year 
or upwards. Four or fix drops were reckoned a fufficient 
dofe; and they were faid to produce no violent fymptoms, 
no vomiting, or but very feldom, no pains, convulfions, 
inflammation, or fever ; but only a feeling of indifpofition, 
without any very definite,fymptoms, except fom€times 
inextinguifhable thirft ; the vidiim, however, funk into a 
languid ftate, and his weaknefs increafed daily. Difguft 
at all kinds of food, and wearinefs of life, fucceeded; the 
nobler organs were then attacked, the lungs were wafted 
by fuppuration, and death clofed the tniferable fcene. 
This termination was the more certain, as the true 
caufe of thefe fymptoms was not at firft fufpedled, and 
the remedies commonly prefcribed rather aggravated the 
evil. Indeed, even when known, no treatment was of 
any avail, although a Dr. Branchaletti, according to 
Keyfler, wrote a book on its remedies, until it was difco- 
vered by accident that lemon-juice, when very early ad- 
miniftered in large dofes, fometimes proved effectual; 
after which, Keyfler tells us that the poifon fell into dif- 
repute. The compofition of this deteftable liquor, how¬ 
ever, remains unknown. 
From Italy this poifon feems to have found its way to 
Paris. In 1672, Godin de Sainte Croix, an adventurer, 
who lived in a fcandalous intimacy with the marchionefs 
of Brinvilliers, was fuddenly killed by fuffocation, as it is 
faid, in confequence of the falling off of a mafic of giafs, 
which he wore to protect him from the fumes of certain 
chemical operations about which he was employed. As 
he had no known relations, his eft’edts were examined by 
a public officer; and among them was found a calker, 
containing many packets of poifonous articles, fealed up 
in a tnyfterious manner, together with a kind oflaftwill, 
directing the whole to be delivered to the marchionefs, 
and, in cafe of her dying before him, to be burnt unopened. 
This led to the difcovery of his having been inftrudted in 
the art of preparing poifon, by an Italian, called Exili, 
with whom he had become acquainted when confined in 
the Baftille ; and of his having furniflied the marchionefs 
with the means of poifoning her father and her two bro¬ 
thers, befides others on whom file tried the effedt of her 
preparations. One of thefe afterwards was called from 
her by the name Eau de Brinvilliers. She is alfo faid to 
have employed a powder called Poudre de Succejfion. La 
Chauffee, who had been valet to Sainte Croix, was con- 
vidtedof being acceffory to thefe murders, and was broken 
alive on the wheel. The marchionefs herfelf, who had 
efcaped to Liege, was alfo feized, and executed. 
The pradlice of poifoning, however, did not feem to 
terminate with the death of this infamous woman ; and 
a particular court, called Chambre des Poifons, or Chambre 
Ardente , was eftablifhed in 1679, to endeavour to put an 
end to it. In confequence of the inveftigations which 
took place in it, many perfons, fome of the higheft rank, 
efpecially the Due de Luxembourg, were implicated. 
More than forty perfons were at one time confined in the 
Baftille; but it was afcertained, that moft of them 
had been guilty of no crime, but were merely the dupes 
of a few impoftors, who pretended to raife fpirits, foretel 
future events, and to poffefs many fecrets of a fimilar 
nature. Two women, La Vigoureux and La Voifin, with 
the brother of the former, and a prieft called Le Sage, 
pretended fortune-tellers, were convidfed of being dealers 
in poifon, and burnt alive, on the 22ft Feb. 1680 ; fome 
others 
