Timeline of Events

Chapter 9 – Drug Identification and Toxicology

399BC - Socrates was first recorded case of death by poisoning (hemlock)

1600’s - Poisoning is common in upper class and royal families

1775 - Karl Wilhelm Scheele discovers he can change arsenious oxide into arsenious acid, which in contact with zinc produces arsine. This later plays a great part in the forensic detection of arsenic.

1806 - German chemist Valentin Ross developed a method of detecting arsenic in a victim's stomach, thus advancing the investigation of poison deaths.

1836 - James Marsh, an English chemist, uses chemical processes to determine arsenic as the cause of death in a murder trial.

1851 – Jean Servais Stas, a chemistry professor from Brussels, is the first to successfully identify vegetable poisons in body tissues

1851 – Britain passes an arsenic act, attempting to control availability of the poison, which is commonly being used in murder.

1982 - Tylenol tampered with; cyanide killed 7 people

2001 - 22 cases of anthrax spread through US postal system

Related Areas of Science• Biology – • Liver detoxifies the blood by changing a substance into

another chemical structure• Lungs have large areas of capillaries which allow

substances to diffuse into the blood, travel to the heart and be pumped throughout the body• Some substances increase or decrease blood flow to the

brain• An acute allergic reaction may be misinterpreted as

poisoning

Related Areas of Science (continued)

• Chemistry –• Shape of molecules of a substance allow it bind with

receptors on cell membranes and affect how the cell functions•Maximum therapeutic concentration = largest amount of

a drug that will help with no harm• LD50 = amount of time it takes for the body to eliminate

50% of a substance• The body needs small amopunts of metals that can be

toxic at high doses (look at minerals on vitamin label)