' After his death his intestines were found to be full of small
ulcers."
There has been a great diversity of opinions as to the nature of these
poisons. That prepared by Tofania appears to have been a clear insipid
water, and the sale of aqua fortis was for a long time forbidden in
Rome, because it was considered the principal ingredient. This, however,
is not probable.
In Paris, the famous _poudre de succession_ (also a secret poison) was
at one time supposed to consist of diamond dust, powdered exceedingly
fine; and at another time, to contain sugar of lead as the principal
ingredient. Haller was of this last opinion. In the casket of St. Croix
were found sublimate, opium, regulus of antimony, vitriol, and a large
quantity of poison ready prepared, the principal ingredients of which
the physicians were not able to detect. Garelli, physician to Charles
VI, King of the Two Sicilies, at the time when Tofania was arrested,
wrote to the celebrated Hoffman, that the Aqua Tofania was nothing else
than crystallized arsenic, dissolved in a large quantity of water by
decoction, with the addition, (but for what purpose we know not) of the
herb _Cymbalaria_, (probably the _Antirrhinum Cymbalaria_).
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