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Forensic Toxicology Time Line

1859

Photography used to demonstrate evidence in a California case [Ref. 33, p. 26].
2737 B.C.

Chinese pharmacological accounts of marijuana [Ref. 25, p. 359].
1500 B.C.

Egyptian scroll, pub. by Ebers in 1862, The Ebers Paprus, hieratic script of Egyptian medicaments [Ref. 7, p. 137].
400 B.C.

Hippocrates prescribed arsenic as a remedy for ulcers [Ref. 7, p. 151].
399 B.C.

Socrates died from a drink made from hemlock [Ref. 24, p. 70].

331 B.C.

Earliest poisoning, several women ordered to drink same poison used on their victim [Ref. 7, p. 138].
82 B.C.

Roman Empire enacted first law against poisoning [Ref. 7, p. 138].
10-19

Thaddeus of Florence describes the medical uses of alcohol [Ref. 3, p. 46].
14

Italy: Livia washed figs in laurel-water (cyanide), fed husband Augustus, killing him [Ref. 1, p. 104].
20

De Materia Medica by Pedanius Dioscorides of Anazarbus, medical properties of 600 plants and 1000 drugs [Ref. 3, p. 48].
1389

First record of the word arsenic in the English language [Ref. 7, p. 151].

1752

Mary Blandy trial (England) is the first reported use of chemical tests to detect arsenic [Ref. 7, p. 149, 153].

1781

J. J. Plenck identified plant or vegetable poison in the victim (Elementa Medicinae et Chirurgriae Forensis [Ref. 7, p. 139].
1799

Humphrey Davy first described effects of laughing gas [Ref. 42, Dec., 2003].
1800

Humphry Davy discovers laughing gas (nitrous oxide) and suggests its use as an anesthetic [Ref. 3, p. 251].

1805

Analgesic morphine first extract from opium by Sertürner, a German apothecary [Ref. 24, p. 76].
1807

Valentin Rose uses Johann Metzger’s method to identify arsenic in human stomach and intestines [Ref. 24, p. 71].
1814

Mathieu Orfila published first major text on toxicology, Traité des Poisons Tirés des règnes minéral, Végétable et animal, ou Toxicologie Général. Based on the comprehensive nature of this book, Orifila, was considered the father of modern toxicology [Ref. 24, p. 139].

1818

Pelletier and Carenton examine several medicinal herbs and berries, two of which are strychnos nux vomica and St Ignatius’s Bean (Strychnos ignatii - strychnine) [Ref. 1, p. 382].
1826

Toxicologist Giesecke identifies conine as the active poison in hemlock [Ref. 24, p. 76].
1828

Toxicologists Possell and Reimann extract nicotine from tobacco [Ref. 24, p. 76].
1831

Baron Justus von Liebig, Ger. Chem., makes chloroform from distilled chlorinated lime and alcohol [Ref. 1, p. 85].
1833

Atropine extracted from belladonna [Ref. 7, p. 141].

1836

James Marsh, “Marsh Test” for identifying trace amounts or arsenic [Ref. 2, p. 10].
1840

First evidence of the introduction of forensic toxicology to the courts, in Brive, France [Ref. 24, p. 140].

1842

Leblanc describes carbon monoxide poisoning [Ref. 24, p. 39].
1847

Dr. James Simpson uses chloroform as an anaesthetic [Ref. 1, p. 85].
1851

Stas identifies vegetable alkaloid poisons in the bodies of the dead [Ref. 23, p. 300].

1853

John Hendrickson poisons wife with aconite, detected by chemical analysis [Ref. 33, p. 5].
1861

Thallium metal, more toxic than mercury or lead, discovered by Sir William Crookes [Ref. 1, p. 392].
1863

A. von Baeyer discovers barbiturates (named for the Fest of St. Barbara) [Ref. 42, May, 2003].
1867

Theodore Wormley published book on toxicology, Microchemistry of Poisons [Ref. 33, p. 5].
1874

Diacetylmorphine synthesized by C.R. Wright and sold by Bayer as Heroin by Bayer in 1898 [Ref. 8, p. 19].

1879

Lydia Sherman poisoned eight in her family by adding arsenic to their meals [Ref. 33, p. 5].
1903

Fisher and von Mering show barbital and phenobarbital were effective sedatives [Ref. 24, p. 79].
1906

U.S. Federal Food and Drug Act to stop use of poisons and adulterants in foodstuffs [Ref. 7, p. 108].

Paper chromatography developed by Tswett [Ref. 7, p. 144].
1910

Dr. William Willcox finds alkaloid hyoscine in body of Cora Crippen, Dr. Hawley Crippen hanged [Ref. 24, p. 77].
1924

Gee Jon became first criminal executed in gas chamber with cyanide [Ref. 42, Feb., 2003].
1930

Webster’s book, Legal Medicine and Toxicology, lists poisons, action on humans and antidotes [Ref. 12, p. 271].
1932

Widmark correlates blood alcohol concentrations to intoxication leading to the Harper Drunkometer [Ref. 2, p. 14].
1935

Rolla Harger’s Drunkometer recognized in drinking and driving study at Northwestern University [Ref. 7, p. 6].
1948

Truth serums, sodium pentothal and sodium amytal, used to illicit confessions [Ref. 2, p. 14].
1954

R. F. Borkenstein’s Breathalyzer tests persons for intoxication [Ref. 36, p. 287].
1972

Midwest Research Unit (USA) develops method to detect marijuana in urine [Ref. 4, p. 156].
1975

American Board of Forensic Toxicology, Inc. created [Ref. 7, p. 145].
1992

First report on the Pitohui, the only poisonous bird, is published in “Science” [Ref. 42, Oct., 2003].
1995

Louis Gdalman, R.Ph., founder of the first US poison control center, dies [Ref. 42, Aug., 2003].

References

[1]. Lane, Brian, The Encyclopedia of Forensic Science, Headline Book Publishing PLC, 1992.
[2]. Richardson, J. R., Modern Scientific Evidence, The W. H. Anderson Company, USA 1961.
[3]. Hellemans, A. and Bunch, B., The Timetables of Science, Simon & Schuster Inc., 1988.
[4]. Hall, J. C., Inside the Crime Lab, Prentice-Hall Inc., 1974.
[7]. Gerber, S.M. and Saferstein, R., Eds., More Chemistry and Crime: From Marsh Arsenic Test to DNA Profile, American Chemical Society, Wash., D.C., 1997.
[8]. Maehly, A. and Strömberg, L, Chemical Criminalistics, Springer-Verlag, 1981.
[12]. Söderman, H. and O’Connell, J. J., Modern Criminal Investigation, Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1935.
[23]. Thorwald, J., The Century of the Detective, Harcourt, Brace & World, 1965.
[24]. Paul, P., Murder Under The Microscope, Macdonald Book, England, 1990.
[25]. Gilbert, J. N., Criminal Investigation, Charles E. Merrill Pub., 1980.
[33]. Eckert, W.G., The Forensic Sciences - An Introduction, An INFORM Publication, Wichita, Kansas, 1976.
[36]. Saferstein, R., Criminalistics: An Introduction to Forensic Science, Prentice-Hall, Inc., New Jersey, 1995.
[42]. Trestrail III, J., Arnold, T. C. and Ryan, M., 2003 Deadly Dates Calendar, Toxicological History Society, 2003.