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 在我们的人社会里，一个傻瓜要是心里怀有仇恨或动了贪念，想除掉一个仇人或除去一个近亲，他就会径自跑到杂货店或药房里，借口老鼠吵得他无法睡觉，要买五六克砒霜，他还会捏造一个假名字，而那却比真名字更容易被识破，假如他真是一个狡猾的家伙，他就会分别到五六家不同的药房或杂货店里去买，因此，当追踪线索的时候，就更容易了五六倍。然后，当他弄到他想要的东西以后，他就莽莽撞撞地给他的仇人或近亲吃一付砒霜，其份量之重，就是古代的巨象或恐吃了也会五脏崩裂的，就这样毫无意义地使他的受害者在那里呻吟，以致惊动了四邻。
