Toxicology refers to the study of the adverse effects of chemical substances in living organisms, so it is also related to biology, chemistry, medicine or pharmacology. The Spanish scientist Mateo Orfil is considered the father of modern toxicology. In 1813, he created the first formal treatise on toxicology in his work Traité des poisons, also called Toxicologie générale or General Toxicology. Orfila died on March 12, 1853 in Paris, France.
However, toxicology at its origin is even older , as we might imagine. We must here point to the Greek physician Dioscorides, court physician to the Roman Emperor Nero, who was probably the first person in human history to attempt to classify plants according to their toxic as well as therapeutic effect.
It is one of the most important Spanish inventions in history.
