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Sunday, May 08, 2005Suggestions that Napoleon had indeed died of stomach cancer were confounded by reports of apparent obesity at the time of his demise. But, say the researchers, the weight changes over the course of his life, noticeable from contemporary iconography, have never before been systematically analysed. To test the hypothesis that Napoleon’s weight at death could be compatible with a diagnosis of terminal gastric cancer, the researchers, from the University Hospital of Basel and the University of Zurich, did a series of studies to determine Napoleon’s weight at death and to see what changes in his weight occurred in the last two decades of his life. For the necessary measurements, the researchers used a collection of 12 different pairs of trousers worn by Napoleon between 1800 and 1821, the year of his death in exile. Modelling trouser sizes with control data suggested that his weight did increase over part of the period, as contemporary reports had suggested. It went up from a low of 67 kg to reach 90 kg by 1820. But measurements of the trousers worn at the time of death suggested a subsequent weight loss of 11 kg during the last year of his life, reducing his weight to 79 kg. Arsenic, which has been blamed in the past for Napoleon's death, was at one time used to treat indigestion as well as a host of other ills. It could very well be that his physicians gave him arsenic to treat the symptoms of his stomach cancer. I still prefer this version of the Emperor's final days, though. posted by Sydney on 5/08/2005 06:34:00 PM 0 comments 0 Comments: |
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