Poisons were employed by early Egyptians and ancient Greeks and Romans. Democritus was probably the first chemist to study poisons. Poisons were used for murder and execution. Arsenic and Hemlock were two popular poisons of Ancient Roman times. The Marsh test, developed in 1836, was the first reliable analysis that could show scientifically that arsenic was present in the body of a victim.
70 to 180 mg of arsenic is enough to kill an adult. Although arsenic targets different enzymes, like cyanide, it interferes with energy-related processes of cell mitochondria. Arsenic has long been used as a poison, but historically people could not prove its presence in a corpse.
1813 Mathiew Orfila, a Spaniard who became professor of medicinal/forensic chemistry at University of Paris, published Traite des Poisons Tires des Regnes Mineral, Vegetal et Animal, ou Toxicologie General l. Orfila is considered the father of modern toxicology. He also made significant contributions to the development of tests for the presence of blood in a forensic context and is credited as the first to attempt the use of a microscope in the assessment of blood and semen stains.
1836 James Marsh, an Scottish chemist, was the first to use toxicology (arsenic detection) in a jury trial.1851 Jean Servais Stas, a chemistry professor from Brussels, Belgium, was the first to successfully identify vegetable poisons in body tissue.
1910 Edmund Locard, professor of forensic medicine at the University of Lyons, France, established the first police crime laboratory.
1960 Lucas, in Canada, described the application of gas chromatography to the identification of petroleum products in the forensic laboratory and discussed potential limitations in the brand identity of gasoline.
1976 Zoro and Hadley in the United Kingdom first evaluated chromatograph-mass spectrometry for forensic purposes.