The use of rings with secret receptacles to contain poisons we have already mentioned. Among the gems in the British Museum there is an onyx which has been hollowed out to form a receptacle for poison. The face of the stone is engraved with the head of a horned faun. To take the poison, it was only necessary to bite through the thin shell of the onyx and swallow the contents. When the gold deposited by Camillus in the Capitol was taken away, it is recorded that the custodian responsible for it "broke the stone of his ring in his mouth," and died shortly afterwards. The poisoners of the seventeenth century not content with introducing poison into wine and other drinks, sought to improve on this method, by preparing the goblet or cup in such a way, that it would impregnate any liquid that was placed in it. There is record of one François Belot who made a speciality of this art, and, it is said, received a comfortable income therefrom; but he fitly ended his days by being broken on the wheel on June 10, 1679. According to a contemporary writer, his secret method consisted in cramming a toad with arsenic, placing it in a silver goblet, and, after pricking its head, crushing it in the vessel. While this operation was being performed, certain charms were uttered. "I know a secret," stated Belot, "such, that in doctoring a cup with a toad, and what I put into it, if fifty persons chanced to drink from it afterwards, even if it were washed and rinsed, they would all be done for, and the cup could only be purified by throwing it into a hot fire. After having thus poisoned the cup, I should not try it upon a human being, but upon a dog, and I should entrust the cup to nobody." And yet Belot's powers were believed in, and he enjoyed a substantial reputation in his day. His boasting is on a par with that of the magician Blessis, who flourished about the same period. He declared to the world that he had discovered a method of manipulating mirrors in such a way that any one who looked in them received his death-blow! The stories of the "poisoned shirt," which was a favourite medium with the poisoners of the seventeenth century, are not, however, without a substratum of fact. The tail of the shirt was prepared by soaking it in a strong solution of arsenic or corrosive sublimate. The object was to produce a violent dermatitis, with ulceration about the perineum and neighbouring parts, which should compel the victim to keep his bed. Medical men would then be summoned in due course, and would probably judge the patient to be suffering from syphilis, and administer mercury in large quantities. The fatal dose could then be introduced at leisure.