ABSTRACT
Toxicology is the science of poisons and dates back to the earliest annals of recorded history. This history is steeped in both using and developing animal-and plantderived poisons, as well as treating the victims who succumbed to these practices. Early practitioners were also integrated into the developing arts of medicine and pharmacy where chemicals, mostly isolated from plant sources, began to be used to treat human and animal diseases. In the early 15th century, the basic tenet of the dose-response relationship was articulated by the alchemist-physician Paracelsus when he stated ‘‘All substances are poisons; there is none which is not a poison. The proper dose separates a poison from a remedy.’’ To the present, this rubric has guided the practice of toxicology in most of its varied applications.
