Feb. 11, 2008 -- Napoleon Bonaparte did not die from arsenic poisoning, a new examination of the French emperor's hair has established.
The man who dominated much of Europe in the early 19th century died at age 52 in British-imposed exile on St. Helena in the south Atlantic, where he had been banished after his defeat at the Battle of Waterloo.
For decades, scholars have debated how Napoleon met his early death on May 5, 1821.
The autopsy and conclusion of his personal doctor, Francesco Antommarchi, indicated that Napoleon died of stomach cancer.
But the veracity of Antommarchi's report was questioned in 1961, and more recently in 2001, when high arsenic levels were found in Napoleon's hair. Various theories of conspiracy, treachery and poisoning followed.
According to those claims, the former French Emperor was poisoned to prevent a return to power if he escaped exile.
Now, Italian scientists have repeated the hair testing using a small nuclear reactor. The study will be published in the March issue of the Italian journal Il Saggiatore.
Researchers from the universities of Pavia and Milan analyzed several hair samples that had been taken during different periods of Napoleon Bonaparte's life -- from when he was a boy in Corsica, during his exile on the Island of Elba, on the day of his death on the Island of Saint Helena, and on the day after his death.
Samples taken from Napoleon II (Bonaparte's son) in the years 1812, 1816, 1821 and 1826, and samples from Napoleon's wife the Empress Josephine, collected upon her death in 1814, were also analyzed.
In addition to those historical samples, obtained from various French and Italian museums, the researchers tested ten hairs taken from randomly selected people alive today.
"It was very important to compare Napoleon's hair not only with samples from living persons, but also with samples taken from his close relatives," said Adalberto Piazzoli of the University of Pavia's Theoretical and Nuclear Physics Department.
The hairs were placed in capsules and inserted into the core of the nuclear reactor in Pavia. Known as "neutron activation," the technology provides precise results, even on tiny samples.
"Indeed we found that Napoleon's hair had high arsenic concentrations. But we found the same high concentration in samples belonging to his son and wife. Basically, the level of arsenic in all of the hair samples from 200 years ago is 100 times greater than the average level detected in samples from persons living today," Piazzoli said.
At the beginning of the 19th century, that finding suggests, arsenic was present in the environment in quantities that are currently considered very dangerous.
"Moreover, there were no significant differences in arsenic levels between when Napoleon was a boy and during his final days in Saint Helena. This shows clearly that the high arsenic concentration in Napoleon's hair wasn't due to poisoning. Instead, it is the result of a constant absorption of arsenic," Piazzoli said.
According to Ezio Previtali of the Italian National Institute of Nuclear Physics, "discovering that 200 years ago people were 100 times more exposed to arsenic than today is one of the most intriguing aspects of the research."
"I believe that this research has established new reference points, but I'm sure there will be more studies over Napoleon's death, because of the fascination this figure still exerts," Previtali told the daily La Repubblica.
The latest study into Napoleon's death, reported in 2007 in Nature Clinical Practice Gastroenterology & Hepatology, compared historical accounts with modern pathological and tumor-staging methods to point to advanced gastric cancer as the cause of death.
The gastric cancer diagnosis was also supported by a 2005 Swiss study which examined 12 pairs of trousers worn by Napoleon between 1800 and 1821. The trousers showed that Bonaparte dramatically slimmed down in the final six months of his life, losing almost 5 inches from his waist and more than 24 pounds, weight loss that would be consistent with a diagnosis of gastric cancer.
Related Links: