Show SECRET or OF THE caay of their subtle poison used by italians at the present time it appears that the proprietor of a little drug store n avenue A has made a lifelong life long study of toxicology and probably knows irvie about the grew glow some science of poison than any other guior man in new york yerk his anfor information aribu like sam wellers acquaintance with london is both extensive and pe peculiar cular tho the other day in talking to a reporter he made a startling and somewhat alarming statement do you know the most moat dangerous class of immigrants to this country 7 he asked 1 I will tell you the immigrant from italy especially the northern portion of that country is a distinct menace to the community and when provoked possesses means 0 of f revenge utterly unknown to others it is a generally received opinion that the terrible secrets of the bergins an are happily lost the knowledge of subtle and untraceable poisons that they turned to such useful account for then themselves selves in removing their en enemies em i es I 1 is supposed to nave died out but the idea is In incorrect cormet the skill in toxicology of the italians of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries has been handed down to our days daya and survives with the peasants ts of italy I 1 have lived for many years in bilat country and bad opportunities of investigating the subject that few obtain I 1 was appalled by the frightful knowledge of poisons possessed by the poorest laborers in the mountainous districts of northern italy they know of poisons ch chiefly lefly obtained from vegetables which kill instantly and leave no trace arnd of others still more dangerous which do not act in a week oy or even a month but which will kill sun ly within a year vear the recipes for these poisons are handed down from father to son as precious family heirlooms heir looms and woe betide anyone who incurs the resentment of a holder of one of these formulas 0 no postmortem post mortem examination reveals a trace of any poison the effects usually being to produce the symptoms of some ordinary disease although the constituents of these poisons are kept rigorously secret it if 0 probable that the alnes es antt 1 I 1 largely into their composition th the 0 science ence of toxicology Is probably the most advanced of all branches of ch chemical em knowledge today to day the profession pro professional fessio chemist knows less about the most deadly poisons than many an untutored savage r of course the latter la is unaware of the elements which form the poison he be prepares but his knowledge of the possibilities of the vegetable world in this direction is infinitely superior to that of the civilized civi elvi lied scientist the deadly polso poisons used by the natives of western africa are probably similar to those of the italian similar to those w which aich have given to the borgias and the rimini of fifteenth cent ury italy such infamy in ila those days clays death was waa conveyed in a glove or a flower caesar borgia alone Is said to have murdered hundreds of I 1 persons in this way while his father an and d his bla sister lucretia Ln cretia were equally wal skillful ifal in the practice of this ghastly art among the italian inhabitants of new york are am hundreds of persons who possess this knowledge students and professors of chemistry ought certainly to Invest investigate ign to the subject as tuny fully as possible an in order to be able to deal with the question properly the amer ca of toay to ay may see a revival of crima equal to td that of italy and V prance ance in the days of the renais new york press |