Resumen

WISNIAK, Jaime. JULES LEFORT. Rev. CENIC Cienc. Biol [online]. 2024, vol.55, pp. 49-58.  Epub 16-Abr-2024. ISSN 2221-2450.

Jules Lefort (1816-1889) was a French pharmacist and chemist who did extensive research on toxicology and forensic tests, particularly for morphine and phosphorus. He studied the coloration produced by different reagents with morphine, narcotine, brucine, and strychnine, and the chemical and toxicological effects produced by morphine during its passage through the animal economy. Morphine resisted without alteration the most active and extended putrefaction of animal matter. Salts of iron sesquioxide were the best reagent for assuring the presence of morphine in powder or concentrated solution; iodic acid with ammonia could detect morphine in a liquid containing 1/10,000 part of the alkaloid, and morphine ingested in a continuous manner and in variable doses, would appear in the urine but not in the sweat. He proved that HCl gaseous was the best reagent for detecting the presence of digitaline in colorless liquids and that this compound could be neatly separated by dialysis. Leroy reported the differences between the ipecacuanhas originating from Brasil and from New Granada; the latter contained 23% less emetine. He also developed a very efficient procedure for the separation of this principle. Leroy found that the odor released by putrefying bodies, as well as their slight emission of light, were caused by a sulfur derivative and a combination of hydrogen and phosphorus. He also determined the amount of atropine present in the leaves and roots of belladonna and proposed an efficient method for its extraction.

Palabras clave : atropine; digitaline; forensic tests; morphine; phosphorus; toxicology.