Robert Christison (1797-1882)
Overview
Robert Christison (born July 18, 1797 in Edinburgh; died January 23, 1882) was a prominent analytical toxicologist. Christison experimented extensively with poisons and was appointed as medical officer to the Crown in Scotland and investigated numerous criminal cases, using his extensive knowledge of poisons. Among the books he published are Granular Degeneration of the Kidneys (1839), Commentary on the Pharmacopoeias of Great Britain (1842), and A Treatise on Poisons in Relation to Medical Jurisprudence, Physiology, and the Practice of Physic (Edinburgh: A. & C. Black, 1845), which contains a description of glassware essential for a toxicologist.