Poisoned or not? Napoleon’s death
CSI: chemical scientists investigate
Napoleon Bonaparte suffered for years with a digestive condition that produced agonising pain leading up to his death in 1821. The cause of death was recorded as stomach cancer.
At the time Napoleon was being held by the English on Saint Helena. Foul play was suspected and arsenic named as the poison. Such poisoning was a distinct possibility as it would have produced symptoms identical with those of stomach cancer.
In those days there was no means of detecting arsenic in the body and many people are thought to have ‘conveniently’ died of food poisoning. Fortunately, a sample of Napoleon’s hair was retained and recently this was analysed and the presence of arsenic confirmed. How was this determined?
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