Chemistry, Medicine, and Crime: Mateu J. B. Orfila (1787-1851) and His Times (review)

This volume originated from the papers presented at an international conference (with the same title as the volume) held on 19–20 March 2004 in Mahon, Minorca, the birthplace of Mateu J. B. Orfila. The conference marked the 150th anniversary of the death of Orfila, a noted toxicologist and chemist. The papers, which are all in English, were contributed by historians of science from several European countries. Like most such edited collections, this one contains papers of varying approach and merit, although they fit together better than is often the case. All of the contributions are researched soundly and shed new light on their respective topics.

As the editors note, although Orfila was a "medical celebrity" in his days, he has received little attention in histories of science. The primary exception is in the history of toxicology, as he is generally recognized as one of the founders of this discipline. The editors argue that Orfila deserves to be better known for the impact that he had on medicine and chemistry as well as toxicology, and on the relationship between these fields, "which cannot be historically understood as fixed and independent disciplines" (viii). They see Orfila as an ideal subject for "a new historical approach" that goes beyond "great luminaries" and "seeks to recover unknown actors, shows a particular interest in the ways in which scientific knowledge was transmitted to different audiences, and looks at the controversies surrounding experiments and scientific instruments" (x). Although these are admirable goals, they hardly represent a "new historical approach."

The words "and His Times" in the subtitle of the book are especially meaningful, for Orfila himself is by no means the primary focus in all of these essays. The papers concern themselves chronologically with the first few decades of the nineteenth century and geographically with France, Britain, and Germany. The main themes covered are the reform of medical education (including teaching methods and textbooks), the development of medical chemistry, the emergence of toxicology as a discipline, and the new role of forensic medicine and medical experts in the courtroom. There is also a paper on "Mateu Orfila and His Biographers," which contains an especially interesting discussion of how Orfila's example was used by Spanish and Catalan writers to advocate particular social agendas.

Not surprisingly, the history of toxicology receives the most attention in the book. Just over half of the papers (six of eleven) are devoted to the subject. Although Orfila is considered to be one of the founders of the discipline, it was his role as a medical expert in famous poisoning trials that made his name well known beyond the academic community. His textbook of toxicology was considered to be the definitive work on the subject at that time.

Chemistry, Medicine, and Crime would have benefited by the inclusion of a chronology of the major events of Orfila's life, or a fuller biographical account, as this would have served as a useful reference tool to assist readers in following relationships between Orfila and the topics and individuals discussed in the various essays. It is also unfortunate that there is no main entry for "Orfila" in the index, for there is thus no easy way to locate references to various aspects of Orfila's life and work throughout the volume.

This volume will be indispensable to scholars and library collections interested in the history of toxicology and should also prove useful to those concerned with the history of medicine and chemistry in Europe in the first half of the nineteenth century.