On poisons, in relation to medical jurisprudence and medicine / by Alfred S. Taylor.

Date:
1848
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On poisons, in relation to medical jurisprudence and medicine / by Alfred S. Taylor. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

    17/888
    PREPACE. In layiug the present work before the profession, the desire of the author has been to give' a more extended view of the subject of Toxicology than he has hitherto been able to introduce into his Manual of Medic.vl Jurisprudence. Tlie crime of poisoning has been of late so fearfully on the increase, that it seems essential for the proper administration of justice, and for the security of society, to collect and arrange in a convenient form for reference, those impor- tant medical facts in relation to death from poison, which, while they constitute a safe guide to the barrister and medical practitioner, may prevent the condemnation of the innocent, and insure the conviction of the guilty. So rapid is the advance of science, and to so great an extent is Toxicology influenced by the progress of collateral sciences, that the lapse of even one year renders numerous additions and altera- tions necessary. In this volume the author has endeavoured to com- prise a full consideration of all questions ivhich appeared to him to hove any practical bearing; and these are illustrated by numerous cases of great interest, many of which have not before been published. The discoveries that have been made in the physiological, patholo- gical, and chemical departments of the science, including an analysis of the most important medico-legal trials, have been brought down to the latest period. It has been considered advisable, for the convenience of the student and practitioner, to publish the work in a form corresponding to that of the Manual of Medical Jurisprudence. If the subject of poisoning be not fully treated in the present volume, it is neither the fault of the publisher nor of the printer. The former has liberally allowed a wide latitude for a much larger space than was originally intended; and the latter, by the use of clear and legible ty e, has contrived to introduce into a small and portable volume, a