Lecture notes recorded by Jean-Baptiste-Alexandre Stroehlin in Paris when he attended lectures given by Matthieu Orfila. The lectures are organized around specific chemicals, thus there are headings such as "Carbonates" and "Borates."

Jean-Baptiste-Alexandre Stroehlin was a Swiss physician who lived in Geneva. He was born in 1813 and died in 1880. Matthieu José Buenaventura Orfila was born in Mahon (Menorca) on April 24, 1787. He died in Paris on March 12, 1853. Orfila studied in Valencia and Barcelona before coming to Paris where received his medical degree in 1811. He was a physician and an expert on poisons. His Traite des poisons appeared in 1814-1815 and he held the post of Dean of Paris Medical Faculty from 1831 until 1848. He began lecturing on chemistry shortly after his arrival in Paris in 1808 and is widely considered to be the Father of Toxicology.