n this case by exposure to the sun or by
over-indulgence of any kind.

II

THE TRIAL OF DR. CASTAING

Castaing expected, as a result of the doctors' report, immediate
release. In this he was disappointed; he was placed under stricter
arrest and taken to Paris, where a preliminary investigation commenced,
lasting five months. During the early part of his imprisonment Castaing
feigned insanity, going to disgusting lengths in the hope of convincing
those about him of the reality of his madness. But after three days of
futile effort he gave up the attempt, and turned his attention to more
practical means of defence. In the prison at Versailles, whither he had
been removed from Paris, he got on friendly terms with a prisoner, one
Goupil, who was awaiting trial for some unimportant offence. To Goupil
Castaing described the cruelty of his position and the causes that had
led to his wrongful arrest. He admitted his unfortunate possession of
the poison, and said that the 100,000 francs which he had invested
he had inherited from an uncle. Through Goupil he succeeded in
communicating with his mother in the hope that she would use her
influence to stifle some of the more serious evidence against him.
Through other prisoners he tried to get at the chemists from whom he had
bought acetate of morphia, and persuade them to say that the preparation
of morphia which he had purchased was harmless.

The trial of Castaing commenced before the Paris Assize Court on
November 10, 1823. He was charged with the murder of Hippolyte Ballet,
the destruction of a document containing the final dispositions of
Hippolyte's property, and with the murder of Auguste Ballet. The three
charges were to be tried simultaneously. The Act of Accusation
in Castaing's case is a remarkable document, covering a hundred
closely-printed pages. It is a well-reasoned, graphic and unfair
statement of the case for the prosecution. It tells the whole story
of the crime, and inserts everything that can possibly prejudice the
prisoner in the eyes of the jury. As an example, it quotes against
Castaing a letter of his mistress in which, in the course of some
quarrel, she had written to him saying that his mother had said some
"horrible things" (des horreurs) of him; but what those "horrible
things" were was not revealed, nor were they ever alluded to again
in the course of the trial, nor was his mistress called as a witness,
though payments of money by Castaing to he