Chemist. Mathieu Joseph Bonaventure Orfila, a Spanish-born chemist, is considered the "Founder of Modern Toxicology." He resided in Paris, France during his professional career. Much of his research with poisons and antidotes was perform on animals. With his knowledge on the subject of poisons, he became an expert witness at murder trials. In the 1840 murder trial involving the death of Charles Lafarge, he proved, on the fourth attempt with an exhumed body, that arsenic was in the victim's body, leading the court to the conviction of murder against Lafarge's wealthy aristocratic 23-year-old bride. She was the first person to be convicted on toxicology results. Originally, Lafarge's cause of death was listed as cholera. Lafarge's wife served twelve years of a life sentence, dying shortly after being released of tuberculous, which was transmitted to her while imprisoned. Using clinical data, laboratory testing, and sometimes a post-mortem examination, he established a systematic, and somewhat reliable, method of detecting poisonous toxins in the human body, thus the beginning of forensic science. Besides arsenic, he had an understanding of other toxins including metals, opium products, mercuric compounds, and cyanide. After the trial, he was recognized as an expert on toxins and conducted well-attended public lectures for months. He spoke to members of the Academy of Medicine of Paris, to explain his views on the Marsh Test, a test invented in the early 1830s to locate arsenic by a British chemist James Marsh. He did improve on this method of testing along with others. With his popularity, his social life expanded to politicians, physicians as well as other influential benefactors, discussing religion, politics, and science. He had a beautiful singing voice, which led with a great demand to his invitations to the soirées hosted by nobility. From these associations, he gained monetary funding for his research and appointments to numerous high positions, including dean of the Faculty of Medicine in Paris. Born on the outskirts of Minorca on Spain's Balearic Islands, his English mother had a beautiful singing voice, and his father was a Spanish merchant. As a teenager, he had the adventure of sailing on a merchant ship and being captured by pirates. In 1804 he studied medicine, along with many languages, at the University of Valencia's Faculty of Medicine before transferring to the University of Barcelona by 1806. After leaving Spain, he began his studies in France in 1807 and by 1808 was a private teacher, which supported his tuition. The Napoleonic War of France threatened his education with imprisonment as he was a Spanish student in Paris, however his prominent supporters spoke in his defense. He received his medical degree from the Faculty of Medicine of Paris in October of 1811 with a paper on an analysis of urine of patients suffering jaundice. He published several scientific papers including his first textbook of toxic substances in 1814, which was entitled "Traité des Poisons Tirés des Règnes Minéral, Végétal et Animal ou Toxicologie." Received with enthusiasm by the international scientific community, his writings were being rapidly translated to English and German. During his career, he published several other textbooks including the two-volume, "Elements of Medical Chemistry," in 1817; "Remedies to be Used in Cases of Poisoning and Asphyxiation" in 1818; and considered his most important textbook, the three-volume, "Courses on Forensic Poisoning," in 1821. He was the founding editor of the "Journal of Medical Chemistry, Pharmacy, and Toxicology" in 1824 and the " Annal of Public Hygiene and Equal Medicine" in 1829. After becoming a naturalized French citizen in 1816, he was appointed as a Physician in the service of King Louis XVIII. In 1819 he became professor of forensic medicine at the Faculty of Medicine in Paris, a chair he held until 1822, when he was removed for political reasons. On April 28, 1838 he was honored with the Commander of the Legion of Honor. He was appointed as Dean of the Faculty of Medicine in Paris during the Orleanist monarchy, a position he kept from 1831 to 1848. In 1848, he was appointed president of the National Medical Academy of France, but was removed from his position as dean of the faculty of medicine later that same year, yet again for political upheavals. His pro-monarchist politics made him numerous enemies during France's unstable politics. In 1846 he returned to Spain for a visit as a celebrity. Other accomplishments include being the founder the Society of Medical Chemistry in 1824; the Museum of Pathological Anatomy, known as the Musée Dupuytren, in 1835; and the Museum of Comparative Anatomy, now called the Musée Orfila, in 1845. His will funded these museums. On August 15, 1815, he married the beautiful vocalist, Anne Gabrielle Lesueur, and the couple had a son. A small bronze sculpture of Orfila performing experiments with dogs, which was created about 1838, is on display at the Musée Carnavalet in Paris. He died of pneumonia. With his image in a relief at the top, a large upright monument, which was restored in 2003, marks his grave site.