Charles Norris (December 4, 1867 – September 11, 1935) was

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

's first appointed chief medical examiner (1918–1935) and pioneer of

forensic toxicology Forensic toxicology is the use of toxicology and disciplines such as analytical chemistry, pharmacology and clinical chemistry to aid medical or legal investigation of death, poisoning, and drug use. The primary concern for forensic toxicology is ...

in America.

Early life

Norris was born on December 4, 1867. He was first educated at Cutler's Private School in Manhattan, later entering Yale University and earning a bachelor of philosophy with emphasis on science. He then went to the

Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons (VP&S) is the graduate medical school of Columbia University, located at the Columbia University Irving Medical Center in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan. Founded ...

, earning a doctorate in medicine in 1892. After studying for four years in Europe, he returned to New York, and in 1904 became the laboratory director at Bellevue and Allied Hospitals.

Deborah Blum Deborah Blum (born October 19, 1954) is an American science journalist and the director of the Knight Science Journalism program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

. ''The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York.'' New York: Penguin, 2011.

Medical examiner

In 1917, Norris, applying for the job of Chief Medical Examiner of the City of New York, took a civil service examination and passed. Mayor John F. Hylan immediately took legal action against him, claiming that in performing autopsies as part of the examination he had violated the law. Fortunately for Norris, the state government took notice and intervened, forcing Hylan to appoint Norris chief medical examiner. Norris immediately set about improving his department. After hiring several distinguished scientists and chemists, including Alexander Gettler, he was forced, due to the lack of any supplies, to buy them all out of his own money. Other problems included the possibility of his workers being drafted to serve in the army (which he solved by writing to Hylan), and the low salaries of his workers, which averaged less than $4,000 a year (approximately $ today).

Tetraethyl lead and the "looney gas building"

In 1924, Norris was called in to investigate the mysterious insanity and deaths of workers in a plant that made

tetraethyllead Tetraethyllead (commonly styled tetraethyl lead), abbreviated TEL, is an organolead compound with the formula Pb( C2H5)4. It is a fuel additive, first being mixed with gasoline beginning in the 1920s as a patented octane rating booster that ...

. It was mostly made in

Standard Oil Standard Oil Company, Inc., was an American oil production, transportation, refining, and marketing company that operated from 1870 to 1911. At its height, Standard Oil was the largest petroleum company in the world, and its success made its co- ...

's plant at the

Bayway Refinery Bayway Refinery is a refining facility in the Port of New York and New Jersey, owned by Phillips 66. Located in Linden, New Jersey, Linden and Elizabeth, New Jersey, and bisected by Morses Creek (New Jersey), Morses Creek, it is the northernmost re ...

in New Jersey. TEL was compounded in a small red brick building which was soon nicknamed the "looney gas building", due to the insanity of the workers there. Although Standard Oil had tried to deny that the deaths were due to tetraethyllead, New Jersey ordered the plant shut down. Although a federal investigation, by chemical industry scientists, responded to the concerns by recommending certain safety measures be adopted by production workers, it concluded that the risk posed to the public was low and the plant resumed production soon afterwards. It was not until 1978 that the leaded gasoline was banned.

Carbon monoxide poisoning

In December 1926, Francesco Travia was caught carrying parts of Anna Fredericksen's body towards the Brooklyn waterfront in New York city. Detectives found the remains of Fredericksen's dismembered body in Travia's apartment and charged him with murder. Travia claimed he and the victim had fallen asleep after drinking whiskey in his apartment, and that after waking up he found her dead on the floor. Dr. Norris concluded that the victim had died of

carbon monoxide Carbon monoxide ( chemical formula CO) is a colorless, poisonous, odorless, tasteless, flammable gas that is slightly less dense than air. Carbon monoxide consists of one carbon atom and one oxygen atom connected by a triple bond. It is the simpl ...

poisoning and could not have been killed by Travia. The police department ignored the conclusions of Norris and charged Travia with murder. At Travia's trial in March, 1927, the forensic analysis of Norris and chemist Alexander Gettler proved carbon monoxide gas from Travia's stove had poisoned her to death. Travia was acquitted of murder, convicted instead of illegally dismembering a dead body.

Advisory Board of the Association Against Impure Liquor

On February 12, 1927, Norris was elected to the chairmanship of the Advisory Board of the Association Against Impure Liquor. The purpose of the organization was to organize physicians, hospital administrators, and pharmacists who "realize the necessity of purity of liquors administered to the sick."

Death

In the spring of 1935, Norris began to feel ill. He began staying away from public events. That summer, he took a vacation to

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sou ...

, hoping to improve his health. Once he returned in late August, his health steadily deteriorated. He died at 8:30 p.m. on September 11, 1935, of

heart failure Heart failure (HF), also known as congestive heart failure (CHF), is a syndrome, a group of signs and symptoms caused by an impairment of the heart's blood pumping function. Symptoms typically include shortness of breath, excessive fatigue, ...

References

External links

American doctors of destiny. By Frank Joseph Jirka

{{DEFAULTSORT:Norris, Charles 1867 births 1935 deaths Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons alumni Yale University alumni American forensic scientists Persons involved with death and dying Coroners of New York County, New York Chief Medical Examiners of the City of New York Scientists from New York (state)