Illustrated Guide to Home Forensic Science Experiments

Part VIII. Forensic Toxicology

Forensic toxicology is the analysis of poisons and toxins, both of which are substances that harm or kill living organisms. By convention, the word poison is used for toxic materials that are elements (such as arsenic, lead, mercury, and other heavy metals) or simple chemical compounds, such as potassium cyanide. The word toxin is used for a poisonous material that is produced by a living organism, such as aconitine, coniine, and other alkaloids. Toxins are generally much more complex molecules than are simple poisons, and many of them are lethal at much smaller dosages than simple poisons.

Forensic toxicology debuted in 1836, when the Scottish chemist James Marsh announced the eponymous Marsh Test, the first reliable ...