Poison, detection and the Victorian imagination

Poison, detection and the Victorian imagination PDF

Author: Ian Burney

Publisher: Manchester University Press

Published: 2021-01-26

Total Pages: 244

ISBN-13: 1526158639

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This fascinating book looks at the phenomenon of murder and poisoning in the nineteenth century. Focusing on the case of William Palmer, a medical doctor who in 1856 was convicted of murder by poisoning, it examines how his case baffled toxicologists, doctors, detectives and judges. The investigation commences with an overview of the practice of toxicology in the Victorian era, and goes on to explore the demands imposed by legal testimony on scientific work to convict criminals. In addressing Palmer's trial, Burney focuses on the testimony of Alfred Swaine Taylor, a leading expert on poisons, and integrates the medical, legal and literary evidence to make sense of the trial itself and the sinister place of poison in wider Victorian society. Ian Burney has produced an exemplary work of cultural history, mixing a keen understanding of the contemporary social and cultural landscape with the scientific and medical history of the period.

The Lifted Veil

The Lifted Veil PDF

Author: George Eliot

Publisher: Graphic Arts Books

Published: 2021-01-26

Total Pages: 39

ISBN-13: 1513275402

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Latimer is cursed with psychic abilities that allow him to see the future, yet he’s unable to avoid the dark turn of his own life. What many consider a gift, he sees as a curse that has destroyed his ability to have normal relationships. Latimer can hear people’s deepest thoughts and has visions of their impending future. It’s a power he acquired at a young age following a brief illness. Latimer loathes his ability, as it has made it nearly impossible for him to make genuine connections. He unknowingly uncovers dark secrets that reveal the worst of humanity. Despite this foresight, Latimer’s desire to control his own narrative blinds him to an inevitable outcome. The Lifted Veil is a unique entry in Eliot’s literary catalogue. It was released the same year as her debut novel, Adam Bede, and is a stark departure from her usual themes. It highlights a different point-of-view and Eliot’s diverse storytelling ability. With an eye-catching new cover, and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of The Lifted Veil is both modern and readable.

Crime, Policing and Punishment in England, 1660-1914

Crime, Policing and Punishment in England, 1660-1914 PDF

Author: Drew D. Gray

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2016-01-28

Total Pages: 409

ISBN-13: 1472579283

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Crime, Policing and Punishment in England, 1660-1914 offers an overview of the changing nature of crime and its punishment from the Restoration to World War 1. It charts how prosecution and punishment have changed from the early modern to the modern period and reflects on how the changing nature of English society has affected these processes. By combining extensive primary material alongside a thorough analysis of historiography this text offers an invaluable resource to students and academics alike. The book is arranged in two sections: the first looks at the evolution and development of the criminal justice system and the emergence of the legal profession, and examines the media's relationship with crime. Section two examines key themes in the history of crime, covering the emergence of professional policing, the move from physical punishment to incarceration and the importance of gender and youth. Finally, the book draws together these themes and considers how the Criminal Justice System has developed to suit the changing nature of the British state.

Nineteenth-Century Female Poisoners

Nineteenth-Century Female Poisoners PDF

Author: V. Nagy

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2015-02-18

Total Pages: 224

ISBN-13: 1137359307

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Nineteenth-Century Female Poisoners investigates the Essex poisoning trials of 1846 to 1851 where three women were charged with using arsenic to kill children, their husbands and brothers. Using newspapers, archival sources (including petitions and witness depositions), and records from parliamentary debates, the focus is not on whether the women were guilty or innocent, but rather on what English society during this period made of their trials and what stereotypes and stock-stories were used to describe women who used arsenic to kill. All three women were initially presented as 'bad' women but as the book illustrates there was no clear consensus on what exactly constituted bad womanhood.

Madeleine Smith on Trial

Madeleine Smith on Trial PDF

Author: Brian Jenkins

Publisher: McFarland

Published: 2019-06-20

Total Pages: 238

ISBN-13: 1476637733

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 In 1855, Glasgow socialite Madeleine Smith began a flirtation with Pierre L'Angelier, a handsome clerk--for her a mere diversion. But L'Angelier sought social mobility. Their class disparity gave her control of the intrigue but when the relationship turned sexual, the power imbalance shifted. The Scots recognized irregular unions in certain cases. L'Angelier considered Smith his wife, a part she at first discreetly played. When he refused to step aside and allow her a more socially acceptable marriage, his removal became necessary. Smith's sensational murder trial captivated both Britain and America. Despite compelling evidence of guilt, various factors led to her acquittal--her class and gender, the peculiarities of Scottish law--and many believed the case went to trial only because the Crown feared blatant confirmation that justice was not blind.

The Invention of Murder

The Invention of Murder PDF

Author: Judith Flanders

Publisher: Macmillan

Published: 2013-07-23

Total Pages: 570

ISBN-13: 1250024889

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"Superb... Flanders's convincing and smart synthesis of the evolution of an official police force, fictional detectives, and real-life cause célèbres will appeal to devotees of true crime and detective fiction alike." -Publishers Weekly, starred review In this fascinating exploration of murder in nineteenth century England, Judith Flanders examines some of the most gripping cases that captivated the Victorians and gave rise to the first detective fiction Murder in the nineteenth century was rare. But murder as sensation and entertainment became ubiquitous, with cold-blooded killings transformed into novels, broadsides, ballads, opera, and melodrama-even into puppet shows and performing dog-acts. Detective fiction and the new police force developed in parallel, each imitating the other-the founders of Scotland Yard gave rise to Dickens's Inspector Bucket, the first fictional police detective, who in turn influenced Sherlock Holmes and, ultimately, even P.D. James and Patricia Cornwell. In this meticulously researched and engrossing book, Judith Flanders retells the gruesome stories of many different types of murder in Great Britain, both famous and obscure: from Greenacre, who transported his dismembered fiancée around town by omnibus, to Burke and Hare's bodysnatching business in Edinburgh; from the crimes (and myths) of Sweeney Todd and Jack the Ripper, to the tragedy of the murdered Marr family in London's East End. Through these stories of murder-from the brutal to the pathetic-Flanders builds a rich and multi-faceted portrait of Victorian society in Great Britain. With an irresistible cast of swindlers, forgers, and poisoners, the mad, the bad and the utterly dangerous, The Invention of Murder is both a mesmerizing tale of crime and punishment, and history at its most readable.

Poison

Poison PDF

Author: Sarah Albee

Publisher: Crown Books for Young Readers

Published: 2017-09-05

Total Pages: 194

ISBN-13: 1101932236

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Science geeks and armchair detectives will soak up this non-lethal, humorous account of the role poisons have played in human history. Perfect for STEM enthusiasts! For centuries, people have been poisoning one another—changing personal lives and the course of empires alike. From spurned spouses and rivals, to condemned prisoners like Socrates, to endangered emperors like Alexander the Great, to modern-day leaders like Joseph Stalin and Yasser Arafat, poison has played a starring role in the demise of countless individuals. And those are just the deliberate poisonings. Medical mishaps, greedy “snake oil” salesmen and food contaminants, poisonous Prohibition, and industrial toxins also impacted millions. Part history, part chemistry, part whodunit, Poison: Deadly Deeds, Perilous Professions, and Murderous Medicines traces the role poisons have played in history from antiquity to the present and shines a ghoulish light on the deadly intersection of human nature . . . and Mother Nature.

Beyond Deviant Damsels

Beyond Deviant Damsels PDF

Author: Anne-Marie Kilday

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2023-02-24

Total Pages: 262

ISBN-13: 0192566466

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Using detailed case studies, Beyond Deviant Damsels undermines many of the conventional assumptions about how women committed crime in the nineteenth century. Previous historical accounts generally constructed gendered stereotypes of women acting in self-defence, being lesser accomplices to male criminals, committing crimes that require little or no physical effort, or pursuing supposedly 'female' goals (such as material acquisition). This study counters these gendered assumptions by examining instances where women tested society's boundaries through their own actions, ultimately presenting women as far more like men in their capacity and execution of criminal behaviour. The book shows examples where women acted far beyond these stereotypes, and showcases the existence of cultural discussion of open-ended female misbehaviour in Victorian Britain - leading us to question the very role of stereotyping in the history of criminality. These individual challenges to a supposed gendered status quo in Victorian Britain did not produce spontaneous outrage, nor were attempts at controlling and eradicating such behaviour coherent or successful. As such Victorian society's treatment of women emerges as uncertain and confused as much as it was determinedly moralistic. From this, Beyond Deviant Damsels seeks to re-evaluate our twenty-first-century perception of female criminals, by indicating that historiography may have been responsible for limiting the picture of Victorian female criminality and behaviour from that time until the present.

Toxic Histories

Toxic Histories PDF

Author: David Arnold

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2016-02-15

Total Pages: 253

ISBN-13: 1107126975

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An analysis of the challenge that India's poison culture posed for colonial rule and toxicology's creation of a public role for science.

Global Forensic Cultures

Global Forensic Cultures PDF

Author: Ian Burney

Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press

Published: 2019-05-21

Total Pages: 357

ISBN-13: 1421427494

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Carrier, Simon A. Cole, Christopher Hamlin, Jeffrey Jentzen, Projit Bihari Mukharji, Quentin (Trais) Pearson, Mitra Sharafi, Gagan Preet Singh, Heather Wolffram