The Hindu : International : "Napoleon died of stomach cancer"

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, May 06, 2005

International

International

"Napoleon died of stomach cancer"

BERLIN: One of the enduring mysteries of Anglo-French history may finally have been solved by scientists — thanks to some pairs of trousers. For years, debate has raged over exactly how Napoleon met his early death while in British-imposed exile on the island of St Helena in the South Atlantic, where he was banished after Waterloo. Although an autopsy indicated cancer of the stomach, the verity of the report was questioned after arsenic was later discovered in the roots of his hair. Various culprits have been suggested — his inept doctors, the British, and even his wallpaper. Now, however, a team of Swiss scientists finally appear to have laid the mystery to rest after closely examining the French emperor's trousers. Scientists from the University hospital in Basel's anatomical pathology department and from Zurich University's institute of medical history looked at 12 pairs of Napoleon's breeches which he wore during the six years he lived in exile. They measured the waists, and also studied the measurements of living patients with stomach cancer. The largest pair of trousers Napoleon wore had a waist measurement of 110 cm; those he wore just before his death in 1821 measured just 98 cm. This, the researchers claim, showed he had lost a significant amount of weight — as did the living patients, who lost between 11 kg and 15 kg over the six months that they were studied. Their conclusion confirms the original post-mortem on Napoleon, which stated that the cause of death was abdominal cancer. —

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