Note 215 — PHARMACOLOGIA. ON THE OPERATIONS OF MEDICINAL BODIES, AND ON THE CLASSIFICATIONS FOUNDED ON THEM. (continued 2)

John, king of Castille, as Tissot relates, was poisoned by a pair of boots, prepared by a Turk; Henry IV, by gloves; Louis XIV fearing a project to poison Philip V, prohibited his opening letters, or putting on gloves (Tissot Traité des Nerfs, T. 1. P. 11. page 13;) Plouquet has the following remark upon this subject, “Huc et ignota illa venena pertinent, quibus epistolæ chirothecæ, et ejusmodi infici, et vim adeo toxicam induere dicuntur, ut lectio ejusmodi epistolæ, indutus chirothecæ subitam mortem causentur.” (Comment. Med. super Homicid. page 184.) Pope Clement VII is said by Zacchias to have been poisoned by the fumes of a taper, (Quæst. Med. Leg.); and a priest is reported to have offered to destroy Queen Elizabeth by poisoning her saddle. (Sir Edward Coke, in the trial of Sir John Hollis.) Bishop Burnet, in the history of his own times (vol. 2. p. 230.) says, that some believed Charles the Second to have been poisoned through the medium of snuff.