“Next, a piece of pure antimony weighing three ounces.

“Next, a packet of powder on which was written:  ’To check the flow of blood.’  Moreau said that it was quince flower and quince buds dried.

“Item, a pack sealed with six seals, on which was written, ’Papers to be burnt in case of death.’  In this twenty-four letters were found, said to have been written by the Marquise de Brinvilliers.

“Item, another packet sealed with six seals, on which a similar inscription was written.  In this were twenty-seven pieces of paper on each of which was written:  ‘Sundry curious secrets.’

“Item, another packet with six more seals, on which a similar inscription was written.  In this were found seventy-five livres, addressed to different persons.  Besides all these, in the box there were two bonds, one from the marquise for 30,000, and one from Penautier for 10,000 francs, their dates corresponding to the time of the deaths of M. d’Aubray and the Sieur de St. Laurent.”

The difference in the amount shows that Sainte-Croix had a tariff, and that parricide was more expensive than simple assassination.  Thus in his death did Sainte-Croix bequeath the poisons to his mistress and his friend; not content with his own crimes in the past, he wished to be their accomplice in the future.

The first business of the officials was to submit the different substances to analysis, and to experiment with them on animals.  The report follows of Guy Simon, an apothecary, who was charged to undertake the analysis and the experiments: 

“This artificial poison reveals its nature on examination.  It is so disguised that one fails to recognise it, so subtle that it deceives the scientific, so elusive that it escapes the doctor’s eye:  experiments seem to be at fault with this poison, rules useless, aphorisms ridiculous.  The surest experiments are made by the use of the elements or upon animals.  In water, ordinary poison falls by its own weight.  The water is superior, the poison obeys, falls downwards, and takes the lower place.

“The trial by fire is no less certain:  the fire evaporates and disperses all that is innocent and pure, leaving only acrid and sour matter which resists its influence.  The effect produced by poisons on animals is still more plain to see:  its malignity extends to every part that it reaches, and all that it touches is vitiated; it burns and scorches all the inner parts with a strange, irresistible fire.

“The poison employed by Sainte-Croix has been tried in all the ways, and can defy every experiment.  This poison floats in water, it is the superior, and the water obeys it; it escapes in the trial by fire, leaving behind only innocent deposits; in animals it is so skilfully concealed that no one could detect it; all parts of the animal remain healthy and active; even while it is spreading the cause of death, this artificial poison leaves behind the marks and appearance