Małgorzata Kłys

American forensic medicine is about 100 years younger than the European one. It was in Europe that at the beginning of the 20th century, American doctors were trained and gradually expanded the field of science and expertise in forensic medicine and criminalistics. This area, for several centuries under the English law, which was in force there, had been successively „mummified” by coroners who worked for years to earn their bad reputation. The outstanding American journalist Bruce Goldfarb writes about the emergence of forensic medicine and criminalistics in the reality of the United States of America and the pioneering role of the „forensic architect” Frances Glessner Lee in his book entitled „18 Tiny Deaths: The Untold Story of Frances Glessner Lee and the Invention of Modern Forensics”. This is an extremely interesting book worth recommending to anyone interested in expanding their knowledge in this area of science.

The need for medical assessment of murder victims and the establishment of rules for this assessment became the driving force behind the creation of forensic medicine, while the non-medical area of crime assessment, including crime scene examination, became the driving force behind the creation and development of criminalistics. Polish forensic medicine has been developing for over 200 years, and the Kraków Chair of Forensic Medicine is the oldest unit of this type. It is therefore not surprising that the archive which collects protocols of expert and scientific research is quite extensive. This material is a valuable foundation for scientific work including not only numerous publications in national and international journals, but also books. The author of the work selected several books on medical and forensic topics that appeared in recent decades on the Polish publishing market, indicating the value and importance of archival material in the literature of this area of science.

The history of humanity is closely related to the use of various poisons, different in each epoch. They served different purposes for centuries. In addition to being a remedy for various ailments and diseases, they also helped to bear the hard life of a person thanks to the possibility of causing mental elation, making it more bearable. They were also used to kill other people, most often for very low motives. The number of poisons existing in particular stages of civilization has been systematically increasing, reaching the number of 100,000 – 500,000 toxicologically active compounds in modern times, with the generally estimated number of known chemical compounds at the level of about 240 million.

The research work of thinkers and people of progress is a counterbalance to the evil deeds of poisoners in antiquity and the Middle Ages. These works appeared in the late Middle Ages and are continued in various forms until the present day. As a result of these works, modern toxicological forensic expertise has been developed. However, before it appeared in its modern shape, it had to go through a very difficult development path, which lasted continuously for several centuries.

Modern toxicological expertise, based on a highly specialized instrumental methodology, operating with high methodological standards, is the achievement of many generations. These standards have now become a requirement for expert works of our times, and failure to comply with them is treated as a malpractice.

This work is a review of the types of poisons and reports in terms of the development and application of toxicological forensic expertise for the purposes of the judiciary.