Illustrated Guide to Home Chemistry Experiments

Chapter 22. Laboratory: Forensic Chemistry

Chemistry and forensics have been inextricably linked since 1836, when Scottish chemist James Marsh announced the eponymous named Marsh Test, the first reliable forensic test for arsenic and antimony. In the early nineteenth century, arsenic compounds were widely used for many purposes, and were readily available at low cost. Would-be murderers then considered arsenic an ideal poison, because arsenic compounds were lethal in small doses, readily soluble, odorless, tasteless, and impossible to detect. Because the symptoms of arsenic poisoning are very similar to the symptoms of gastroenteritis, an untold ...