History of Forensic Chemistry
Early humans used plants and animal products as treatment and
learned from experience what worked and what couldn’t but there
was no understanding of natural laws (Science). Ancient chemistry was related to the medicines and materials & the knowledge was based on experiment and experience. There was nothing like specific laws and standards set.
About 2500 years ago the Greeks were the first to set the idea of
science as a system or method to look the world. During this period the chemistry was well established in certain areas like Natural dyes, Simple metallurgy, Soap making, Cosmetics, Fermented beverages & Ceramics.Greeks formulated the idea of Science but Romans formulated the
idea of Forensic chemistry .
The word “Forensic” is a Latin word means “Forum”- a place
where Romans conducted business and legal proceedings. To speak
in forum was to speak the truth. So the Forensic chemistry originated by the Romans.
Most difficult crime to detect in ancient world was “Poisoning’ and
law was set by Romans in 82 BC.Poisons were used both
for murder and as a means of execution. Romans executed number of women sentenced of poisoning husbands, father, other relatives and significant others. The women were executed by being forced to drink their own concoctions (mixtures) as a part of punishments or in modern word we say it as penalty , leading to various versions of the preceding quote (estimate).One such known incident is of the philosopher Socrates who was
condemned to death by drinking hemlock. Democritus was one of the first chemist to study poisons, and he told some of his findings to Hippocrates.
Although the Romans & Greeks fails to contribute to the forensic science.
The first known codified laws were put forth by the people who
occupied the Tigris & Euphrates River Valley . The earliest known law and legal system appeared around 2000 BC . Hammurabi’s code was the most famous known systems around that time , Named after The King of Babylonian in around 1700BC.
The first forensic testimony was given by chemist M. J. B. Orfila (1783–1853) Known as the Father of Forensic Toxicology . Published the first Scientific treatise on the Detection of Poison in 1814. There is short Case study behind the Testimony.
- Marie LaFarge was a young French widow who at 24 remarried to Charles LaFarge (age 30) was not happy with her marriage.In 1839 Charles LaFarge died after eating cake made by his wife Marie. The symptoms
showed arsenic poisoning. Marie was charged and chemical tests were performed on the body of Charles but results were inconclusive. The court was unsatisfied & commissioned Orfila to conduct areview of scientific work in investigation. Orfila examined the body & was able to detect the arsenic in the tissues. He collected the controlled samples, tested the soil in which Charles and showed that arsenic was not originated from the Soil. - Marie was sentenced and punished to involuntary servitude.
From their Forensic chemistry as a Domain came up with several theories and Laws followed and Approved by the Recognized Organizations . Some of theme include
- Questioned document analysis , Blood Stain Analysis , Fingerprint analysis , Plausible and Hemoglobin test for blood , Gas chromatography , mass spectroscopy , DNA profiling etc.
- Photography used for the identification of criminals and documentation of evidence and crime scenes , Use of heated headspace sampling technique for collecting arson evidence etc.
This were the some glimpses of History of Forensic Chemistry . Coming Up in the Next Article about the Modern Day Forensic Chemistry.
