Upon the introduction of this terrible poison into France, Death,
like an invisible spirit of evil, glided silently about the kingdom,
creeping into the closest family circles, seizing everywhere on its
helpless victims. The nearest and dearest relationships of life
were no longer the safe guardians of the domestic hearth. The man
who to-day appeared in the glow of health dropped to-morrow and died
the next day. No skill of the physician was able to save him, or to
detect the true cause of his death, attributing it usually to the
false appearances of disease which it was made to assume.
The victims of the poudre de succession were counted by thousands.
The possession of wealth, a lucrative office, a fair young wife, or
a coveted husband, were sufficient reasons for sudden death to cut
off the holder of these envied blessings. A terrible mistrust
pervaded all classes of society. The husband trembled before his
wife, the wife before her husband, father and son, brother and
sister,--kindred and friends, of all degrees, looked askance and
with suspicious eyes upon one another.
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