10 Facts About Edme Castaing

Edme-Samuel Castaing was a French physician and is thought to have been the first person to use morphine to commit murder.

Edme Castaing went to school in Angers, where he was an outstanding student, winning many prizes.

Edme Castaing graduated from the School of Medicine in Paris, becoming a doctor in 1821, by which time he had fathered two children with his mistress, the widow of a judge.

Edme Castaing was under financial pressure, which became further exacerbated by a friend's debt of 600 francs, for which he had vouched in 1818 and which became due in 1820.

Edme Castaing, who had been treating Hippolyte, and another doctor conducted the autopsy, concluding that he had died of pleurisy aggravated by consumption.

Edme Castaing was taken to Paris, where an investigation commenced that lasted five months.

Edme Castaing's trial commenced before the Paris Assize Court on November 10,1823, and lasted eight days.

The acte d'accusation against Edme Castaing consisted of a hundred closely printed pages.

Edme Castaing was defended by two advocates: Roussel, a schoolfellow of his, and the famous Pierre-Antoine Berryer, though the latter's speech is not considered one of his most successful ones.

Edme Castaing said that with the help of his own chemist he had put a quarter of a grain of the acetate into a large spoonful of milk, and had found it so insupportably bitter to the taste that he could not keep it in his mouth.