The Parkman Murder
Following the discovery of charred human bones and some artificial teeth in the laboratory of John White Webster, Harvard's Erving Professor of Chemistry, scientific experts were called in to provide anatomical and chemical analyses of the remains on December 2, 1849. The letter from Charles T. Jackson, describing some of the chemical findings, was addressed to Winslow Lewis, who headed a committee charged with making a post-mortem report which was then used as evidence in the 1850 trial of John White Webster for the murder of George Parkman. Winslow Lewis, Charles T. Jackson, and other members of the medical committee were examined as part of the proceedings on March 20 and 21.