Napoleon Bonaparte was murdered by arsenic poisoning and did not die naturally of a stomach cancer, according to a new toxicological study which attempts to end long running historical controversy.(AFP/File)
Posted on 06/04/2005 11:06:03 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
STRASBOURG (AFP) - Napoleon Bonaparte was murdered by arsenic poisoning and did not die naturally of a stomach cancer, according to a new toxicological study which attempts to end long running historical controversy.
"The latest analysis suggests a criminal intent," said Dr Pascal Kintz, a toxicologist who regularly gives expert evidence in court cases, and who conducted a new study on Napoleon's hair.
For International Napoleonic Society (INS) spokesman Jean-Claude Damamme the new study by Dr Kintz has produced "the definitive proof of the criminal poisoning of Napoleon".
Napoleon died aged 51 in 1821, on the island of St Helena in the south Atlantic, where he had been banished after his military defeat by British and Prussian forces at Waterloo.
A previous analysis of Napoleon's hair, conducted by Dr Kintz in 2001, had found abnormally high levels of arsenic.
However supporters of the natural death theory said the arsenic could be explained by environmental factors such as the winemakers' custom at that time of drying their casks and basins with arsenic.
The shrinking size of the emperor's trousers was also used to support the death by stomach cancer theory in a Swiss study which concluded that the emperor lost more than 11 kilos (24 pounds) during the last five months of his life.
Dr Kintz in his latest study used sophisticated new chemical techniques to analyse hair samples, taken by Napoleon's servant Abraham Noverraz and General Bertrand, who was deported to St Helena with the emperor.
The new techniques perform a simultaneous analysis of 30 different metals and can distinguish between the organic and innocuous form of arsenic, found in crustaceans, and its toxic metallic variety, which was not possible previously.
The toxic form of arsenic, used for centuries as rat poison, was found in Napoleon's hair samples at 37 to 42 times above the normal level in the new study.
"I can't imagine Napoleon fed himself rat poison, even if he wasn't a gourmet," joked Damamme of Montreal-based INS.
"The arsenic was in the 'spinal cord' of the hair, which implies that it came from the blood and food ingested," he said.
Damamme further discounted the wine theory saying Napoleon "drank little, at the most one glass per day, and then mixed it with water".
"Somebody in his circle gave him arsenic in small doses to poison him little by little to avoid another violent uprising by those who still supported the emperor in France," Damamme said.
Napoleon Bonaparte was murdered by arsenic poisoning and did not die naturally of a stomach cancer, according to a new toxicological study which attempts to end long running historical controversy.(AFP/File)
It wasn't easy to get those droplets in his watered down wine, but God was on my side...............
BTTT
I always wondered how a midget could rule a country and declare himself emperor, but then I remembered we`re talking about France here.
How can one "die naturally of stomach cancer..."?!
If I remember my history correctly; women would add a tiny bit of arsenic (until they found out it was bad for them to do so) to lemonade type drinks to make their complexion paler.
Ping Ping Ping
Well, you live long enough and if an accident doesn't take you, heart failure or cancer will.
"All behold, he ate the pig. Thus proving that he's a Ziggy Piggy, Ziggy Piggy, Ziggy Piggy."
Hmmm...who had him in custody? Who had the most to gain? How did Halliburton figure into this? ;-)
A cancer is a naturally occuring condition, so is arthritis, psneumonia and heart failure.
So to say what they did about Bonaparte's cancer was Not unusual.
How are these described as being "natural?" I am quite curious.
Well, as you know, cancers occur in the population based on genes and maybe how well you care for yourself.
You can't murder someone with cancer, it is a naturally occuring disease as is heart disease, psnemonia and other illnesses.
And still Vince Fosters murder is not solved..
Hmmmm. Thank you. I'll have to ponder on that for a bit.
"Who are you carring a midget?"
Great Britain poisoned Napolean. Great Britain also poisoned President Wilson. Wilson opposed the draconian peace treaty with Germany following WWI and they poisoned him to get his opposition out of the way.
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