Taylor, On Poisons, 1848, First American Edition

On Poisons, in Relation to Medical Jurisprudence and Medicine. By Alfred S. Taylor, F. R. S. Lecturer on Medical Jurisprudence and Chemistry in Guy’s Hospital, and Author of “Medical Jurisprudence.” Edited with Notes and Additions, by R. Eglesfeld Griffith, M. D., &c. Philadelphia: Lea & Blanchard. 1848. 
 
Original full brown leather with scattered chips and tears. Corners bumped and chipped. New black title label on spine. Joints sound. 19th century owner’s name and ex library markings inside. Some toning. Some faint staining of fore-edge. 
 
687 pages plus 32 pages of ads. 
 
First American edition, published the same year as the first London edition. 
 
Alfred Swaine Taylor (1806 - 1880) “Taylor traveled widely in Europe both during and after his medical studies at the united medical school of Guy's and St. Thomas' Hospitals. He attended lectures in Paris, made a brief geological survey of Auvergne, visited the medical school at Montpellier, and then went to Naples where he studied for nine months and published two papers in Italian. Taylor's interest in forensic medicine led to his appointment to the first chair of medical jurisprudence at Guy's in 1831, soon after his return from Europe. It was the first chair in that subject in London and Taylor held the post until he retired in 1878. He was also an expert chemist and lectured on that subject at Guy's for over thirty-five years. His two major works, Elements of medical jurisprudence (London, 1836) and Poisons in relation to medical jurisprudence and medicine (London, 1848), became standard works during his lifetime because they systematized legal principles and court rulings so skillfully with toxicological data and anatomical and pathological findings.” (Heirs 1693; see also G-M 10729)