Introduction

The evolution of toxicology has progressed logarithmically. Prehistoric methods of identifying substances by trial and error involved tasting, applying, cooking with, inhaling, or accidental encounter with natural products in the environment, after which the effects could be observed and monitored. Historically, the “science of poisons” developed from an applied subject matter to its current unique discipline. It is conceivable that early hominids identified edible plants and animals by primitive experimentation, the dire consequences of which were quickly memorized. As early human civilizations began to understand the fields of agriculture and tool-making, they learned about the usefulness and risks associated with a variety of substances. Traditionally, clinical toxicology was regarded as the specific discipline of the broader field of toxicology concerned with unforeseen consequences of agents whose intent is to treat, ameliorate, modify, or prevent disease states, or the effect of drugs that, at one time, were intended to be used as such.