Reading Help The Count of Monte Cristo Ch.40-74
`
` "Oh, I am aware of that," said Madame de Villefort; "but I `
` have a passion for the occult sciences, which speak to the `
` imagination like poetry, and are reducible to figures, like `
` an algebraic equation; but go on, I beg of you; what you say `
` interests me to the greatest degree." `
` `
` "Well," replied Monte Cristo "suppose, then, that this `
` poison was brucine, and you were to take a milligramme the `
` first day, two milligrammes the second day, and so on. Well, `
` at the end of ten days you would have taken a centigramme, `
` at the end of twenty days, increasing another milligramme, `
` you would have taken three hundred centigrammes; that is to `
` say, a dose which you would support without inconvenience, `
` and which would be very dangerous for any other person who `
` had not taken the same precautions as yourself. Well, then, `
` at the end of a month, when drinking water from the same `
` carafe, you would kill the person who drank with you, `
` without your perceiving, otherwise than from slight `
` inconvenience, that there was any poisonous substance `
` mingled with this water." `
` `
` "Do you know any other counter-poisons?" `
` `
` "I do not." `
` `
` "I have often read, and read again, the history of `
` Mithridates," said Madame de Villefort in a tone of `
` reflection, "and had always considered it a fable." `
` `
` "No, madame, contrary to most history, it is true; but what `
` you tell me, madame, what you inquire of me, is not the `
` result of a chance query, for two years ago you asked me the `
` same questions, and said then, that for a very long time `
` this history of Mithridates had occupied your mind." `
` `
` "True, sir. The two favorite studies of my youth were botany `
` and mineralogy, and subsequently, when I learned that the `
` use of simples frequently explained the whole history of a `
` people, and the entire life of individuals in the East, as `
` flowers betoken and symbolize a love affair, I have `
` regretted that I was not a man, that I might have been a `
` Flamel, a Fontana, or a Cabanis." `
` `
` "And the more, madame," said Monte Cristo, "as the Orientals `
` do not confine themselves, as did Mithridates, to make a `
` cuirass of his poisons, but they also made them a dagger. `
` Science becomes, in their hands, not only a defensive `
` weapon, but still more frequently an offensive one; the one `
` serves against all their physical sufferings, the other `
` against all their enemies. With opium, belladonna, brucaea, `
` snake-wood, and the cherry-laurel, they put to sleep all who `
` stand in their way. There is not one of those women, `
` Egyptian, Turkish, or Greek, whom here you call `good `
` women,' who do not know how, by means of chemistry, to `
` stupefy a doctor, and in psychology to amaze a confessor." `
` `
` "Really," said Madame de Villefort, whose eyes sparkled with `
` strange fire at this conversation. `
` `
` "Oh, yes, indeed, madame," continued Monte Cristo, "the `
` secret dramas of the East begin with a love philtre and end `
` with a death potion -- begin with paradise and end with -- `
` hell. There are as many elixirs of every kind as there are `
` caprices and peculiarities in the physical and moral nature `
` of humanity; and I will say further -- the art of these `
` chemists is capable with the utmost precision to accommodate `
` and proportion the remedy and the bane to yearnings for love `
` or desires for vengeance." `
` `
` "But, sir," remarked the young woman, "these Eastern `
` societies, in the midst of which you have passed a portion `
` of your existence, are as fantastic as the tales that come `
` from their strange land. A man can easily be put out of the `
` way there, then; it is, indeed, the Bagdad and Bassora of `
` the `Thousand and One Nights.' The sultans and viziers who `
` rule over society there, and who constitute what in France `
` we call the government, are really Haroun-al-Raschids and `
` Giaffars, who not only pardon a poisoner, but even make him `
` a prime minister, if his crime has been an ingenious one, `
` and who, under such circumstances, have the whole story `
` written in letters of gold, to divert their hours of `
` idleness and ennui." `
` `
` "By no means, madame; the fanciful exists no longer in the `
` East. There, disguised under other names, and concealed `
` under other costumes, are police agents, magistrates, `
` attorneys-general, and bailiffs. They hang, behead, and `
` impale their criminals in the most agreeable possible `
` manner; but some of these, like clever rogues, have `
` contrived to escape human justice, and succeed in their `
` fraudulent enterprises by cunning stratagems. Amongst us a `
` simpleton, possessed by the demon of hate or cupidity, who `
` has an enemy to destroy, or some near relation to dispose `
` of, goes straight to the grocer's or druggist's, gives a `
` false name, which leads more easily to his detection than `
` his real one, and under the pretext that the rats prevent `
` him from sleeping, purchases five or six grammes of arsenic `
` -- if he is really a cunning fellow, he goes to five or six `
` different druggists or grocers, and thereby becomes only `
` five or six times more easily traced; -- then, when he has `
` acquired his specific, he administers duly to his enemy, or `
` near kinsman, a dose of arsenic which would make a mammoth `
` or mastodon burst, and which, without rhyme or reason, makes `
` his victim utter groans which alarm the entire neighborhood. `
` Then arrive a crowd of policemen and constables. They fetch `
` a doctor, who opens the dead body, and collects from the `
` entrails and stomach a quantity of arsenic in a spoon. Next `
` day a hundred newspapers relate the fact, with the names of `
` the victim and the murderer. The same evening the grocer or `
` grocers, druggist or druggists, come and say, `It was I who `
` sold the arsenic to the gentleman;' and rather than not `
` recognize the guilty purchaser, they will recognize twenty. `
` Then the foolish criminal is taken, imprisoned, `
` interrogated, confronted, confounded, condemned, and cut off `
` by hemp or steel; or if she be a woman of any consideration, `
` they lock her up for life. This is the way in which you `
` Northerns understand chemistry, madame. Desrues was, `
` however, I must confess, more skilful." `
` `
` "What would you have, sir?" said the lady, laughing; "we do `
` what we can. All the world has not the secret of the Medicis `
` or the Borgias." `
` `
` "Now," replied the count, shrugging his shoulders, "shall I `
` tell you the cause of all these stupidities? It is because, `
` at your theatres, by what at least I could judge by reading `
` the pieces they play, they see persons swallow the contents `
` of a phial, or suck the button of a ring, and fall dead `
` instantly. Five minutes afterwards the curtain falls, and `
` the spectators depart. They are ignorant of the consequences `
` of the murder; they see neither the police commissary with `
` his badge of office, nor the corporal with his four men; and `
` so the poor fools believe that the whole thing is as easy as `
` lying. But go a little way from France -- go either to `
` Aleppo or Cairo, or only to Naples or Rome, and you will see `
` people passing by you in the streets -- people erect, `
` smiling, and fresh-colored, of whom Asmodeus, if you were `
` holding on by the skirt of his mantle, would say, `That man `
` was poisoned three weeks ago; he will be a dead man in a `
` month.'" `
` `
` "Then," remarked Madame de Villefort, "they have again `
` discovered the secret of the famous aquatofana that they `
` said was lost at Perugia." `
` `
` "Ah, but madame, does mankind ever lose anything? The arts `
` change about and make a tour of the world; things take a `
` different name, and the vulgar do not follow them -- that is `
` all; but there is always the same result. Poisons act `
` particularly on some organ or another -- one on the stomach, `
` another on the brain, another on the intestines. Well, the `
` poison brings on a cough, the cough an inflammation of the `
` lungs, or some other complaint catalogued in the book of `
` science, which, however, by no means precludes it from being `
` decidedly mortal; and if it were not, would be sure to `
` become so, thanks to the remedies applied by foolish `
` doctors, who are generally bad chemists, and which will act `
` in favor of or against the malady, as you please; and then `
` there is a human being killed according to all the rules of `
` art and skill, and of whom justice learns nothing, as was `
` said by a terrible chemist of my acquaintance, the worthy `
` Abbe Adelmonte of Taormina, in Sicily, who has studied these `
` national phenomena very profoundly." `
` `
` "It is quite frightful, but deeply interesting," said the `
` young lady, motionless with attention. "I thought, I must `
` confess, that these tales, were inventions of the Middle `
` Ages." `
` `
` "Yes, no doubt, but improved upon by ours. What is the use `
` of time, rewards of merit, medals, crosses, Monthyon prizes, `
` if they do not lead society towards more complete `
` perfection? Yet man will never be perfect until he learns to `
` create and destroy; he does know how to destroy, and that is `
` half the battle." `
` `
` "So," added Madame de Villefort, constantly returning to her `
` object, "the poisons of the Borgias, the Medicis, the Renes, `
` the Ruggieris, and later, probably, that of Baron de Trenck, `
` whose story has been so misused by modern drama and romance" `
` -- `
` `
` "Were objects of art, madame, and nothing more," replied the `
` count. "Do you suppose that the real savant addresses `
` himself stupidly to the mere individual? By no means. `
` Science loves eccentricities, leaps and bounds, trials of `
` strength, fancies, if I may be allowed so to term them. `
` Thus, for instance, the excellent Abbe Adelmonte, of whom I `
` spoke just now, made in this way some marvellous `
` experiments." `
` `
` "Really?" `
` `
` "Yes; I will mention one to you. He had a remarkably fine `
` garden, full of vegetables, flowers, and fruit. From amongst `
` these vegetables he selected the most simple -- a cabbage, `
` for instance. For three days he watered this cabbage with a `
` distillation of arsenic; on the third, the cabbage began to `
` droop and turn yellow. At that moment he cut it. In the eyes `
` of everybody it seemed fit for table, and preserved its `
`
` "Oh, I am aware of that," said Madame de Villefort; "but I `
` have a passion for the occult sciences, which speak to the `
` imagination like poetry, and are reducible to figures, like `
` an algebraic equation; but go on, I beg of you; what you say `
` interests me to the greatest degree." `
` `
` "Well," replied Monte Cristo "suppose, then, that this `
` poison was brucine, and you were to take a milligramme the `
` first day, two milligrammes the second day, and so on. Well, `
` at the end of ten days you would have taken a centigramme, `
` at the end of twenty days, increasing another milligramme, `
` you would have taken three hundred centigrammes; that is to `
` say, a dose which you would support without inconvenience, `
` and which would be very dangerous for any other person who `
` had not taken the same precautions as yourself. Well, then, `
` at the end of a month, when drinking water from the same `
` carafe, you would kill the person who drank with you, `
` without your perceiving, otherwise than from slight `
` inconvenience, that there was any poisonous substance `
` mingled with this water." `
` `
` "Do you know any other counter-poisons?" `
` `
` "I do not." `
` `
` "I have often read, and read again, the history of `
` Mithridates," said Madame de Villefort in a tone of `
` reflection, "and had always considered it a fable." `
` `
` "No, madame, contrary to most history, it is true; but what `
` you tell me, madame, what you inquire of me, is not the `
` result of a chance query, for two years ago you asked me the `
` same questions, and said then, that for a very long time `
` this history of Mithridates had occupied your mind." `
` `
` "True, sir. The two favorite studies of my youth were botany `
` and mineralogy, and subsequently, when I learned that the `
` use of simples frequently explained the whole history of a `
` people, and the entire life of individuals in the East, as `
` flowers betoken and symbolize a love affair, I have `
` regretted that I was not a man, that I might have been a `
` Flamel, a Fontana, or a Cabanis." `
` `
` "And the more, madame," said Monte Cristo, "as the Orientals `
` do not confine themselves, as did Mithridates, to make a `
` cuirass of his poisons, but they also made them a dagger. `
` Science becomes, in their hands, not only a defensive `
` weapon, but still more frequently an offensive one; the one `
` serves against all their physical sufferings, the other `
` against all their enemies. With opium, belladonna, brucaea, `
` snake-wood, and the cherry-laurel, they put to sleep all who `
` stand in their way. There is not one of those women, `
` Egyptian, Turkish, or Greek, whom here you call `good `
` women,' who do not know how, by means of chemistry, to `
` stupefy a doctor, and in psychology to amaze a confessor." `
` `
` "Really," said Madame de Villefort, whose eyes sparkled with `
` strange fire at this conversation. `
` `
` "Oh, yes, indeed, madame," continued Monte Cristo, "the `
` secret dramas of the East begin with a love philtre and end `
` with a death potion -- begin with paradise and end with -- `
` hell. There are as many elixirs of every kind as there are `
` caprices and peculiarities in the physical and moral nature `
` of humanity; and I will say further -- the art of these `
` chemists is capable with the utmost precision to accommodate `
` and proportion the remedy and the bane to yearnings for love `
` or desires for vengeance." `
` `
` "But, sir," remarked the young woman, "these Eastern `
` societies, in the midst of which you have passed a portion `
` of your existence, are as fantastic as the tales that come `
` from their strange land. A man can easily be put out of the `
` way there, then; it is, indeed, the Bagdad and Bassora of `
` the `Thousand and One Nights.' The sultans and viziers who `
` rule over society there, and who constitute what in France `
` we call the government, are really Haroun-al-Raschids and `
` Giaffars, who not only pardon a poisoner, but even make him `
` a prime minister, if his crime has been an ingenious one, `
` and who, under such circumstances, have the whole story `
` written in letters of gold, to divert their hours of `
` idleness and ennui." `
` `
` "By no means, madame; the fanciful exists no longer in the `
` East. There, disguised under other names, and concealed `
` under other costumes, are police agents, magistrates, `
` attorneys-general, and bailiffs. They hang, behead, and `
` impale their criminals in the most agreeable possible `
` manner; but some of these, like clever rogues, have `
` contrived to escape human justice, and succeed in their `
` fraudulent enterprises by cunning stratagems. Amongst us a `
` simpleton, possessed by the demon of hate or cupidity, who `
` has an enemy to destroy, or some near relation to dispose `
` of, goes straight to the grocer's or druggist's, gives a `
` false name, which leads more easily to his detection than `
` his real one, and under the pretext that the rats prevent `
` him from sleeping, purchases five or six grammes of arsenic `
` -- if he is really a cunning fellow, he goes to five or six `
` different druggists or grocers, and thereby becomes only `
` five or six times more easily traced; -- then, when he has `
` acquired his specific, he administers duly to his enemy, or `
` near kinsman, a dose of arsenic which would make a mammoth `
` or mastodon burst, and which, without rhyme or reason, makes `
` his victim utter groans which alarm the entire neighborhood. `
` Then arrive a crowd of policemen and constables. They fetch `
` a doctor, who opens the dead body, and collects from the `
` entrails and stomach a quantity of arsenic in a spoon. Next `
` day a hundred newspapers relate the fact, with the names of `
` the victim and the murderer. The same evening the grocer or `
` grocers, druggist or druggists, come and say, `It was I who `
` sold the arsenic to the gentleman;' and rather than not `
` recognize the guilty purchaser, they will recognize twenty. `
` Then the foolish criminal is taken, imprisoned, `
` interrogated, confronted, confounded, condemned, and cut off `
` by hemp or steel; or if she be a woman of any consideration, `
` they lock her up for life. This is the way in which you `
` Northerns understand chemistry, madame. Desrues was, `
` however, I must confess, more skilful." `
` `
` "What would you have, sir?" said the lady, laughing; "we do `
` what we can. All the world has not the secret of the Medicis `
` or the Borgias." `
` `
` "Now," replied the count, shrugging his shoulders, "shall I `
` tell you the cause of all these stupidities? It is because, `
` at your theatres, by what at least I could judge by reading `
` the pieces they play, they see persons swallow the contents `
` of a phial, or suck the button of a ring, and fall dead `
` instantly. Five minutes afterwards the curtain falls, and `
` the spectators depart. They are ignorant of the consequences `
` of the murder; they see neither the police commissary with `
` his badge of office, nor the corporal with his four men; and `
` so the poor fools believe that the whole thing is as easy as `
` lying. But go a little way from France -- go either to `
` Aleppo or Cairo, or only to Naples or Rome, and you will see `
` people passing by you in the streets -- people erect, `
` smiling, and fresh-colored, of whom Asmodeus, if you were `
` holding on by the skirt of his mantle, would say, `That man `
` was poisoned three weeks ago; he will be a dead man in a `
` month.'" `
` `
` "Then," remarked Madame de Villefort, "they have again `
` discovered the secret of the famous aquatofana that they `
` said was lost at Perugia." `
` `
` "Ah, but madame, does mankind ever lose anything? The arts `
` change about and make a tour of the world; things take a `
` different name, and the vulgar do not follow them -- that is `
` all; but there is always the same result. Poisons act `
` particularly on some organ or another -- one on the stomach, `
` another on the brain, another on the intestines. Well, the `
` poison brings on a cough, the cough an inflammation of the `
` lungs, or some other complaint catalogued in the book of `
` science, which, however, by no means precludes it from being `
` decidedly mortal; and if it were not, would be sure to `
` become so, thanks to the remedies applied by foolish `
` doctors, who are generally bad chemists, and which will act `
` in favor of or against the malady, as you please; and then `
` there is a human being killed according to all the rules of `
` art and skill, and of whom justice learns nothing, as was `
` said by a terrible chemist of my acquaintance, the worthy `
` Abbe Adelmonte of Taormina, in Sicily, who has studied these `
` national phenomena very profoundly." `
` `
` "It is quite frightful, but deeply interesting," said the `
` young lady, motionless with attention. "I thought, I must `
` confess, that these tales, were inventions of the Middle `
` Ages." `
` `
` "Yes, no doubt, but improved upon by ours. What is the use `
` of time, rewards of merit, medals, crosses, Monthyon prizes, `
` if they do not lead society towards more complete `
` perfection? Yet man will never be perfect until he learns to `
` create and destroy; he does know how to destroy, and that is `
` half the battle." `
` `
` "So," added Madame de Villefort, constantly returning to her `
` object, "the poisons of the Borgias, the Medicis, the Renes, `
` the Ruggieris, and later, probably, that of Baron de Trenck, `
` whose story has been so misused by modern drama and romance" `
` -- `
` `
` "Were objects of art, madame, and nothing more," replied the `
` count. "Do you suppose that the real savant addresses `
` himself stupidly to the mere individual? By no means. `
` Science loves eccentricities, leaps and bounds, trials of `
` strength, fancies, if I may be allowed so to term them. `
` Thus, for instance, the excellent Abbe Adelmonte, of whom I `
` spoke just now, made in this way some marvellous `
` experiments." `
` `
` "Really?" `
` `
` "Yes; I will mention one to you. He had a remarkably fine `
` garden, full of vegetables, flowers, and fruit. From amongst `
` these vegetables he selected the most simple -- a cabbage, `
` for instance. For three days he watered this cabbage with a `
` distillation of arsenic; on the third, the cabbage began to `
` droop and turn yellow. At that moment he cut it. In the eyes `
` of everybody it seemed fit for table, and preserved its `
`