Abstract
This chapter, by focusing on the famous Lafarge affair (1840), reviews the movement of poisons across different popular, medical, and legal cultures. In the first section, it offers an introduction to three main protagonists: the poison (arsenic), the defendant (Marie Lafarge), and the most famous expert (Mateu Orfila). In the next part, it follows the metamorphosis of the debate from criminal courts to amphitheaters and academies. The chapter also review the debate in salons, literary fiction, and other spaces of popular culture. It then discusses how the Lafarge affair was employed in the early years of the so-called scientific criminology. Finally, and taking into account the previous ingredients, the chapter reviews the context in which the most famous movie on the Lafarge trial was produced.
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Bertomeu-Sánchez, J.R. (2017). The Truth About the Lafarge Affair: Poisons in Salons, Academies, and Courtrooms During the Nineteenth Century. In: Klippel, H., Wahrig, B., Zechner, A. (eds) Poison and Poisoning in Science, Fiction and Cinema. Palgrave Studies in Science and Popular Culture. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-64909-2_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-64909-2_3
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Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-64908-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-64909-2
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