Welcome to a virtual tour of the historical materials in the National Library of Medicine (NLM) collection. Today we are featuring collection items and resources relating to Forensic Medicine.   

These materials document the history of forensic medicine and the different branches within the field. They highlight the fields of toxicology, pathology, anthropology, and DNA. Each are related to forensic medicine in a different way, but the application of each helps with investigations of a crime in establishing the causes of injury or death.

Thanks to Lindsey Lombardi, one of our Pathways Interns, for her curation of this tour! We welcome you to add your own favorites or ask us questions. Use the comment feature below to share your thoughts. 

Selections from NLM Digital Collections

NLM Digital Collections is the National Library of Medicine’s free online repository of biomedical resources including books, manuscripts, and still and moving images.

Images

Images from the History of Medicine (IHM), available in NLM Digital Collections, is a digitized set of images selected from the historical collections.  Here are a few images that are related to the branches of forensic medicine.

Pathology Laboratory, 1897. National Library of Medicine #101435634

A Triad Celebration: Celebrate, Dedicate, Create, 1987. National Library of Medicine #10143773

NLM Publications on Toxicology, ca. 1972. National Library of Medicine #101446049

Explore many more related images in NLM Digital Collections under these search terms:

Forensic Medicine | Toxicology | Pathology | Anthropology | DNA

Rare Books and Journals 

Medicine in the Americas, 1610–1920 Collection

This group of materials consists of selected digitized English language monographs which demonstrate the evolution of American medicine from colonial frontier outposts of the 17th century to research hospitals of the 20th century. Here are a few items relating to forensic medicine:

• Principles of Forensic Medicine by William Guy. New York, 1845.
  

  Principles of Forensic Medicine (Table of Contents; Page 14), 1845 National Library of Medicine #28410600R

  

  Principles of Forensic Medicine (Table of Contents; Page 15), 1845 National Library of Medicine #28410600R
• A Laboratory Guide in Urinalysis and Toxicology by Rudolph August Witthaus. New York, 1866.
• A Manual of Medical Jurisprudence: Compiled from the Best Medical and Legal Works: Being an Analysis of a Course of Lectures on Forensic Medicine, Annually Delivered in London by Michael Ryan. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1832.
• Legal Medicine and Toxicology by Many Specialists by Frederick Peterson, Walter Haines and Ralph Webster. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and London, England, 1923.
• On Poisons, in Relation to Medical Jurisprudence and Medicine by Alfred Swaine Taylor. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1848.

NLM Publications and Productions

This group of materials consists of digitized archive documents and videos created by NLM such as technical notes, bibliographies, reports, and lectures.

• The New forensic science: Visible Proofs, Forensic Views of the Body, 2006.
• Highlights in Medicolegal Relations, 1968.

Historical Films

The National Library of Medicine holds almost two dozen films featuring Milton Helpern, (1902-1977). Helpern received his M.D. from Cornell University in 1926, joined the staff of the New York City Medical Examiner’s Office in 1931, and taught forensic pathology at New York University. In 1954 he became the city’s chief medical examiner. During his long career, he performed thousands of autopsies and was internationally recognized as an expert in forensic medicine.

What Did You Take?: The Drug Abuse Emergency, ca. 1971 — Stresses recognition and treatment of drug abuse emergencies, accurate identification of symptoms and immediate clinical procedures. Viewers observe emergency treatment of patients in the major classes of drugs commonly abused, opiates, depressants, stimulants and hallucinogens.

Poison Plants, ca. 1976 — This program presents information on different kinds of poisonous plants and their identifiers. The presenter starts the lecture by pointing out the importance of poisonous plants to both history and medical science. He also makes it clear that it is important to keep a careful eye on children, since they are the most likely to inadvertently reach for and consume a poisonous plant. Pictures are included in the presentation to help identify each plant.

NLM Exhibitions and Events

The National Library of Medicine curates stories about the social and cultural history of science and medicine that enhance awareness of and appreciation for the collections and health information resources of the National Library of Medicine. This work encourages enthusiasm for history and nurtures young professionals in history, the health professions, and library sciences.

Explore scholarship around the history of Forensic Medicine at NLM.

Exhibitions

Visible Proofs is about the history of forensic medicine. Over the centuries, physicians, surgeons, and other professionals have struggled to develop scientific methods that translate views of bodies and body parts into “visible proofs” that can persuade judges, juries, and the public. The exhibition resources include a list of  radio interviews relating to identifying remains, the need for more forensic professionals in crime laboratories, peaking interest in forensics, evidence being overlooked, medical examiners and 9/11, and the process of forensics.

Murder Pamphlets in the National Library of Medicine were mostly collected in the mid- and late 19th century. Some deal with cases catalogued under the subject category of “medical jurisprudence” or “forensic medicine.” Others deal with notorious cases in which doctors were accused of, or were victims of, heinous crimes. Still others have no medical connection whatsoever. Today, murder pamphlets are a rich source for historians of medicine and crime novelists, but also cultural historians, who mine them for material to illuminate the history of class, gender, the law, science, the city, religion and other topics.

Profiles in Science

The Oswald T. Avery Papers — Oswald Theordore Avery (1877-1955) was a distinguished Canadian-born bacteriologist and research physician and one of the founders of immunochemistry. He is best known for his discovery that deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) serves as genetic material. The work of Avery and the members of his team at the Rockefeller Institute, observes Nobel laureate Dr. Joshua Lederberg, was “the historical platform of modern DNA research” and “betokened the molecular revolution in genetics and biomedical science generally.

The Arthur Kornberg Papers — Arthur Kornberg (1918–2007) was an American biochemist who made outstanding contributions to molecular biology through his research on enzymes. He was the first to isolate DNA polymerase, the enzyme that assembles DNA from its components, and the first to synthesize DNA in a test tube, which earned him a Nobel Prize in 1959. He later became the first to replicate an infective virus DNA in vitro. Kornberg was also the first chairman of the Department of Biochemistry at the Stanford University School of Medicine, which under his guidance became a preeminent center for DNA research, including recombinant DNA research.

The Francis Crick Papers — Francis Crick (1916–2004) is inextricably tied to the discovery of the double helix of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) in 1953, considered the most significant advance in the understanding of biology since Darwin’s theory of evolution. Yet, during a research career spanning more than fifty years, theoretical biologist Crick also made fundamental contributions to structural studies of other important biological molecules through X-ray analysis; to the understanding of protein synthesis; to the deciphering of the genetic code by which hereditary information is stored and transcribed in the cell; and to our conception of consciousness.

The Marshall W. Nirenberg Papers — Marshall W. Nirenberg (1927–2010) was an American biochemist who shared the 1968 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work on deciphering the genetic code.

Medicine on Screen

LSD: Insight or Insanity, 1967, is a 29-minute-long educational film that warns teens against rebellion, mistrust of authority, thrill-seeking drugs, and misguided attempts to prove themselves. The essay by Erika Dyck, PhD, explores the history of cultural attitudes toward LSD.

For Rebels, it’s a Kick…

NLM History Talks

• A Tribute to Marshall Nirenberg, 2015
• From Private Matter to Public Health Crisis: Nursing and the Intervention into Domestic Violence, 2015

Other Resources on the History of Forensic Medicine

Finding Aids to Archive and Manuscript Collections

Finding aids are the main access point and research support tool provided for the Archives and Modern Manuscripts, Prints and Photographs, and Films and Videos collections. These aids offer detailed descriptions of large aggregations of materials. Many of the collections contain content related to forensic medicine including:

• Bernard Glueck Papers — Includes Correspondence, anonymized patient case histories, lecture notes and presentations, subject files, and writings document the professional life of psychiatrist and criminal mental health expert Bernard Glueck.
• Jaroslav Nemec Medico-Legal Collection — Includes short biographies of important figures in forensic medicine, a directory of institutes of legal medicine, two narrative articles, and correspondence and other material resulting from a project to identify all conference, congresses, and meetings on legal medicine.
• Henry Siegal Papers on Alleged Tubocurarine Poisonings — Includes correspondence, autopsy report, depositions, and transcripts of court records accumulated by the pathologists hired by the defense in the trial of “Dr. X,” Mario E. Jascalevich.

Biographies

These biographies, from the NLM exhibition Visible Proofs: Forensic Views of the Body highlight a few individuals who worked in and advocated for the field of forensics medicine.

• Alphonse Bertillon (1853–1914),  an Argentinian police official, devised the first workable system of fingerprint identification, and pioneered the first use of fingerprint evidence in a murder investigation.
• Mathieu Joseph Bonaventure Orfila (1787–1853), often called the “Father of Toxicology,” was the first great 19th-century exponent of forensic medicine. Orfila worked to make chemical analysis a routine part of forensic medicine, and made studies of asphyxiation, the decomposition of bodies, and exhumation.
• John Glaister, Jr. (1892–1971) published Medical Jurisprudence and Toxicology, was Medico-Legal Examiner to the Crown, and was often consulted as a medical examiner, forensic pathologist, serologist, and expert on hairs and fibers.
• Francis Glessner Lee, (1878–1962) a New England socialite and heiress, dedicated her life to the advancement of forensic medicine and scientific crime detection. In 1931 Mrs. Lee helped to establish the Department of Legal Medicine at Harvard, the only such program then in existence in North America. From that time on, she became a tireless advocate for forensic science.
• Juan Vucetich (1858–1925) was an Argentinian police official, devised the first workable system of fingerprint identification, and pioneered the first use of fingerprint evidence in a murder investigation.
• Thomas Wakley (1795–1862) was a British surgeon and a prominent medical and political reformer. In 1823, Wakley founded The Lancet, a journal dedicated to the reform of medicine. Wakley argued that coroners should be qualified medical men and elected advocates of the people—not lawyers and appointees and that an inquest could only produce justice if conducted publicly and scientifically, without favoritism or prejudice.

Current Information on Forensic Medicine

PubMed

PubMed is a free resource supporting the search and retrieval of biomedical and life sciences literature with the aim of improving health–both globally and personally. The PubMed database contains more than 35 million citations and abstracts of biomedical literature. PubMed was developed and is maintained by the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), at the National Library of Medicine (NLM), located at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Here are some relating to forensic medicine.

• Forensic Medicine
• Forensic Toxicology
• Forensic DNA
• Forensic Pathology
• Forensic Anthropology

MedlinePlus

Medline plus is a health information portal from NLM, that provides access to current, accurate health information and references from trusted sources about a wide array of health topics, including toxicology, , for example here are some reliable sites to learn more:

• Biodefense and Bioterrorism
• Bullying and Cyberbullying
• Child Abuse
• Drug Use and Addiction
• Elder Abuse
• Intimate Partner Violence
• Patient Rights
• Poisoning
• Sexual Assault
• Wounds and Injuries

The NLM Collection Tours series provides highlights from the diverse historical collections of the National Library of Medicine (NLM) on a variety of contemporary topics in health and medicine. Some library services are temporarily suspended due to the ongoing building renovations, but our reading room is open by appointment and staff are available to answer questions.