Born in 1787 on the island of Minorca, Mathieu Orfila was known as the "Father of Toxicology." He was a toxicology and chemistry graduate from both Barcelona and Valencia, and wrote the Treatise on Poisons which was published in 1814. Eventually he became a professor at the Athéthée in Paris in 1817, where he made a discovery that would help future toxicologists determine the cause of deaths by a variety of toxins. While Mathieu was presenting a lecture on arsenic poisoning, he demonstrated a test that was suppose to be flawless. Even though Orfila performed it correctly, the test failed, but because it failed he started to become curious as how to properly test different types of poisons and chemicals.

 

- He started going through all tests involved to identify chemicals and poisons.

      (Found out a lot didn't work and improved the others that did.)

 

- Marie LaFarge 1840