ABSTRACT
Toxicology is a vast subject, most of it concerned with the nature, occurrence, symptomatology, biochemistry, mode of action and treatment of a wide range of poisonous substances. Many forensic medicine textbooks, especially those from Asia, devote a major part of their text to all these aspects of hundreds of toxic substances, many of which are seldom – if ever – encountered by a pathologist in most parts of the world. As the autopsy appearances of most poisons are non-specific, it seems fruitless to offer a repetitive catalogue, and therefore the descriptions selected here refer to some of those that either have specific features or are encountered more often. This chapter describes the autopsy appearances in a range of poisons that can broadly be classed as ‘corrosive’, even if this is not necessarily their main lethal mode of action. In addition, several toxic heavy metals will be discussed, again from the point of view of autopsy findings and relevant toxicological laboratory findings.
