The Name of the Rose

“Lauds, in which William and Severinus examine Berengar’s corpse and discover that the tongue is black, unusual in a drowned man. Then they discuss most painful poisons and a past theft”

The body is brought into the infirmary so that William and Severinus can perform an autopsy. The herbalist decides it was death by drowning, but William points out that there are no signs of a struggle. He reveals some of the adventures with the stolen book, omitting the fact that he and Adso snuck into the scriptorium. Severinus notices a black substance on the dead man’s fingers, which he had also observed during his autopsy on Venantius. Then, they look into the dead man’s mouth and discover his blackened tongue. They hypothesize that both of the murdered men ingested some kind of poison. William questions Severinus, who admits that an ampule of a very potent poison was discovered missing during a storm many years ago that had wreaked havoc in the infirmary. William compels Severinus to list the people who knew about the poison, a list which includes the abbot and Malachi.