Communities and Interactions in Nineteenth-Century Scottish and English Toxicology Holly Easton In fulfilment of the degree of Master of Arts in History Department of History, University of Canterbury Supervisors: Heather Wolffram and David Monger 2017 Table of Contents Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................................. 1 Abstract ................................................................................................................................................... 2 Introduction ........................................................................................................................................... 3 Chapter One: Toxicology and Tertiary Education ............................................................................... 12 Scotland, 1800-49 .................................................................................................................... 13 England, 1800-49 .................................................................................................................... 16 The Second Half of the Century ............................................................................................... 20 Chapter Two: Toxicology and Legal Systems ....................................................................................... 29 Scotland, 1800-49 .................................................................................................................... 30 England, 1800-49 .................................................................................................................... 33 The Second Half of the Century ............................................................................................... 36 Scotland, 1850-99 .................................................................................................................... 38 England, 1850-99 .................................................................................................................... 40 Chapter Three: Authority, the Continent, and British beginnings ...................................................... 44 Defining Toxicological Authority .............................................................................................. 45 Early Developments in Toxicology .......................................................................................... 48 Scottish Expertise ..................................................................................................................... 51 English Expertise ..................................................................................................................... 57 Crossing National Borders........................................................................................................ 63 Chapter Four: Networks of Knowledge in Toxicology ......................................................................... 68 Defining Networks .................................................................................................................. 68 Toxicological Networks ............................................................................................................ 70 The Early Decades .................................................................................................................... 73 Private Networks ..................................................................................................................... 76 Judicial Consequences ............................................................................................................ 85 Beyond the 1850s ................................................................................................................... 90 Chapter Five: Defining Evidence in Toxicology.................................................................................... 94 Perceptions of Toxicology ........................................................................................................ 96 Toxicological Textbooks and Evidence ..................................................................................... 99 Defining Evidence in Practice ................................................................................................. 108 Advocacy for Change ............................................................................................................. 116 Conclusion .......................................................................................................................................... 125 Bibliography ............................................................................................................................. 129 1 Acknowledgements I would like to thank my supervisors, Heather Wolffram and David Monger. Their guidance has been invaluable, and they dealt with every question, email, and impromptu meeting without fail. Thanks to my family, who have done everything possible to keep me going all year. Thanks to the denizens of the Masters Room, without whom I would never have finished with sanity intact. You know who you are. 2 Abstract The nineteenth century was a crucial period of development for toxicology in Britain, during which several great toxicologists rose to prominence. These toxicologists facilitated the creation of communities and intellectual networks of toxicology that operated throughout Scotland and England. Despite this crossover, previous scholarship has tended to focus on either Scotland or England, rather than both together. In assessing toxicology in both countries, this thesis aims to provide a new perspective on toxicology as it was used in criminal investigations. By tracking the development of toxicology over the nineteenth century in Scotland and England, this thesis examines how different aspects of toxicology were performed both within and across national borders. Despite the pressures exerted by the different national frameworks of law and education in each country, toxicology developed along a similar trajectory in each, a process that is examined using two toxicologists as focal points. Robert Christison and Alfred Swaine Taylor were the most eminent toxicologists in Scotland and England respectively, and through their positions of authority had enormous influence over the growing body of toxicology practitioners. This thesis uses them to examine the communities and intellectual networks that emerged within the body of toxicology practitioners, and changes in toxicological practice. This approach reveals the interdependency of expert toxicologists and ordinary practitioners across Britain. The writings of Christison, Taylor, and other toxicologists in medical journals and textbooks are the most important sources in this thesis, because they allow reconstruction of the situations and reactions of ordinary medical men, who made up the bulk of toxicology practitioners. 3 Introduction But in medical jurisprudence, more than in any other medical sciences, the experiences of any single individual, how great soever it may be, is but a feeble light to guide his steps, when compared with the vast accumulated stores of the records of medicine.1 In the first edition of his textbook, Scottish toxicologist Robert Christison described his first foray into toxicology as an endeavour impossible to undertake alone. He referred specifically to his use of French and German records and research, but the sentiment that toxicology was not an individual pursuit was repeated by toxicologists throughout the century. This thesis examines the communities of toxicology practitioners that formed in Scotland and England over the nineteenth century, with a focus on the interactions that occurred between expert toxicologists and the ordinary medical men who practised toxicology without special training. These interactions forged networks within and across these communities that shaped the development of toxicology, and were in turn shaped by the peculiarities of the British context. The two most famous toxicologists of Scotland and England are focus points for this thesis. Robert Christison (1798-1882) made toxicology a respectable subject of study in Scotland. He was a frequent expert witness in court, he wrote the first British treatise on poisoning, and contributed prolifically to the medical journals.2 Alfred Swaine Taylor (1806- 1880) was Christison’s English counterpart. He, too, was a medical jurist, textbook author 1 Robert Christison, A Treatise on Poisons: In Relation to Medical Jurisprudence, Physiology, and the Practice of Physic (Edinburgh: Adam Black, 1829) xiii. 2 M. Anne Crowther, ‘The Toxicology of Robert Christison: European Influences and British Practice in the Early Nineteenth Century,’ in Chemistry, Medicine, and Crime, Mateu J. B Orfila (1787-1853) and His Times eds. José Ramon Bertomeu-Sánchez and Agustí Nieto-Galan (Sagamore Beach: Science History Publications, 2006); Robert Christison, The Life of Sir Robert Christison, bart., 1 (Edinburgh: W. Blackwood and Sons, 1885). 4 and contributor to the medical journals.3 Historians justifiably credit these men with enormous influence over the development of toxicology, but this thesis seeks to deviate from the narrative in assessing how they were influenced by their inferiors; namely, the medical men who looked to them as authorities. The ordinary medical men of Scotland and England were called upon to perform toxicology in poisoning cases, and although they lacked the expertise of