A treatise on poisons, in relation to medical jurisprudence, physiology, and the practice of physic / By Robert Christison.

  • Christison, Robert, Sir, 1797-1882.
Date:
1836
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A treatise on poisons, in relation to medical jurisprudence, physiology, and the practice of physic / By Robert Christison. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    19/918
    TO THE FIRST EDITION. The frequency of murder, suicide, and accidental death by poison, the interest usually attached to such events, the nicety of the inquiries by which their nature is brought to light, and the necessity of a comprehensive knowledge of medicine for their elucidation,—render Toxicology, in the eye of all well-informed persons, an important and essential part of the studies of every medical man. This is acknowledged on all hands, so that even in Britain, where the other departments of Medical Jurisprudence are only now forcing their way slowly on public attention, the branch which treats of poisons has been for some time pursued with avidity by the student, and cultivated with success by the scienti- fic physician. In such circumstances it appears sur- prising, that the present should be the first original and systematic work on the subject, which has been pub- lished in the English language since the beginning of the present century. The object of the science of Toxicology is fourfold. It supplies antidotes for the various poisons ; it fur- nishes the physiologist with valuable instruments of research in his investigations into the laws of the ani- h