Forensic Science: Case Study Of CSI, NCIS, And Bones

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CSI, NCIS, and Bones. These are all shows in modern day pop culture that involve forensic sciences to solve murders and bring justice to victims. But what is forensic science? By dictionary definition, forensic science is the application of scientific principles and techniques to matters of criminal justice especially as relating to the collection, examination, and analysis of physical evidence. It includes many branches, one of which is forensic toxicology. Forensic toxicology dates back all the way to France in the 1800s. Mathieu Orfilia was a Spanish born toxicologist who changed how murders were investigated during the 1840 Marie Lafarge case. Creating new techniques and refining existing ones, he was able to right the wrongs on the case …show more content…

When she was twenty three and still unmarried, her uncle set up a meeting between her and Charles Lafarge. He told her that he was a wealthy businessman, and Marie agreed to marry him. This was true… at one point. Lafarge’s business had gone bankrupt, leaving him broke. Marie quickly found out, but only after the two had gotten married. She became very unhappy with her marriage. Witnesses said they’d seen her buying arsenic, and then, her husband died. When a white substance was found in a frying pan at the Lafarge’s home, it quickly turned into a homicide case. (Merrick, …show more content…

After people stopped believing that, doctors still had no way to be completely sure that the condition they were dealing with was arsenic. At the time, testing for arsenic was laughable. A popular way to test was to throw a sample of the victim’s stomach contents in the fire. If it smelled like garlic as it burned, it was assumed that garlic was present.(Acocella, 2013) In 1830, English chemist James Marsh developed a reliable test for detecting arsenic in the body tissue. This test eventually became known as the Marsh test. (Bell) The first documented use of this test was the 1840 Marie Lafarge case. The medical personnel on the case had performed the test incorrectly at first. Mathieu Orfila eventually became the first scientist to extract arsenic from the organs rather than the contents of the stomach during a