Napoleon's Mysterious Death Unmasked

Science Daily ^ | 1-16-2007 | UT Southwestern Medical Center

[Conservative4Ever]

dang those pesky fashion designers...pink is for GIRLS

[savedbygrace]

I have laid awake for my whole life worrying about this. Now I can sleep.

And a few minutes later, your alarm clock will go off. Trust me on this.

[dforest]

Damn, you have no idea how many years I have been without sleep!

[Hacksaw]

I thought it was already "proved" he was slowly poisoned through his wine by examining his hair samples.

[devane617]

The guy is dead...a long time ago...let it go already!

[fat city]

...autopsy descriptions show that Napoleon's stomach was filled with a dark material that resembled coffee grounds...

So that explains why he always had his hand on his stomach in all those paintings.

[Cheburashka]

"Napoleon died of a very advanced case of gastric cancer"

Which would explain his hand in his vest?
---
Gastric or stomach cancer is symptomless until an advanced state. By the time you have symptoms you generally have a year or less to live.

Paintings of him with his hand in his vest 1814 and before, death in 1821. No, doesn't fit the disease.

[GreyFriar]

medical ping

[toddlintown]

Sorry Doctor. It was a joke.

[Hacksaw]

So that explains why he always had his hand on his stomach in all those paintings.

He's holding his pants up. He always was misplacing his suspenders.

[Hacksaw]

from BBC:
"According to two French forensic specialists in Strasbourg, tests on five strands of Napoleon's hair preserved since his death confirm "major exposure to arsenic"."

[uglybiker]

Napolean's Death Mask

They wanted to make sure he stayed dead!

You were wonderin' when somebody was gonna post that, didn't ya!

[TexasTransplant]

I may croak if I discover "Grant Money" was the reason this "Study" was initiated.

I swear... Government will be the Death of me

TT

[LexBaird]

There are as many causes of Napoleon's death as I have fingers on both hands. Just wait a year and somebody will come up and blame his death on something else.

He was shot from the grassy knoll.

[sgtbono2002]

***"Even today, with the availability of sophisticated surgical techniques and chemotherapies, patients with gastric cancer as advanced as Napoleon's have a poor prognosis." ****

Tell that to Fidel Castro.

[AnAmericanMother]

Nope, that was the tin foil hat crowd who were hoping to prove that Wellington and the British governor had him assassinated. The French started yapping about it almost as soon as he was dead. Make the Brits look bad, y'know.

Everybody knew the man had an ulcer (and yes, that's why he kept his hand in his vest), it got worse and worse, and when he began losing weight rapidly and having constant pain and anemia, everybody knew it had "turned."

Here's the original article: Napoleon Bonaparte's gastric cancer: a clinicopathologic approach to staging, pathogenesis, and etiology

It's a good read, actually, if you're interested in histori/medical detective stories.

The absence of hemorrhages in the heart absolutely rules out arsenic poisoning, according to the article. Trace amounts of arsenic in the hair mean nothing, because of the ferocious patent medicines in general use at the time.

[AnAmericanMother]

But since he had pre-existing gastric ulcers, much more likely.

[Eternal_Bear]

Maybe Montholon, his alleged assassin will be cleared now but he remains a sinister cypher in my book.

[Buckeye Battle Cry]

He was born November 13, 1769. Throws the entire article into doubt for me.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Blam. I just had a Kay Starr flashback.

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