Doctors Thomas Hindmarch and Philip Corso (cosmetic surgeon) have been attempting to demonstrate for almost twenty years that Napoleon did not die of poisoning. Throughout the years, the version of exactly which illness might have caused the Emperor's death was changed many times, with stomach cancer, in their opinion, the prime suspect.

 

Doctor Pascal Kintz, President of the "Socété française de toxicologie analytique", recognized as one to the leading analytical toxicologists in the world, brought proof of the chronic arsenical intoxication (during a press confernence held at the Maison de la Mutualité in Paris on June 1st, 2001). Therefore, the only solution left for Doctor Corso was to question Doctor Kintz' preofessional competence. This he did in an article which brought a stinging reply from Doctor Kintz.

 

Here is the article :

Letter to the publisher :

Napoleon's hair, external arsenic

or arsenic ingestion ?

Thomas HINDMARSH, University of Ottawa, Philip F. CORSO, Yale University

(Received May 20, 2002 ; accepted May 23, 2002)

We do not agree that Kintz at al (1) have confirmed that the arsenic in Napoleon's hair was derived from oral ingestion. They showed that an acetone-water wash removed from human hair the arsenic derived from 4 hours suspension in an As2O3 solution. Perhaps if they had exposed the hair to arsenic for longer it would not have been removed. Smith and Henry (2) were only able to remove 40% of arsenic derived from 10 days soaking of human hair in a sodium arsenite solution, by washing in water and sodium Hydroxide. Also Young and Rice (3) were unable to distinguish between "internal" and "external" arsenic in guinea-pig hair by washing in acid, alkali, ethanol or ether. Atalla (4) concluded the same using human hair. We have shown (5) that externally applied arsenic can sometimes be found in the core of human hair and it is difficult to imagine how this could be accessible to cleansing solutions.

 

Kintz et al (1) explain the major differences in arsenic content of the Emperor's hair on the same day, some normal, some letahl, as a consequence of the large variations in inter-hair and intra-hair arsenic. This is a cogent point which emphasizes the unreliability of single-hair arsenic measurements (6). It is essential that a minimum of 1 g of hair, collected from several sites on the head, be analyzed. We still maintain, because Napoleon did not have obvious clinical signs of chronic arsenic poisoning, that the most likely source of the excess arsenic in his hair was from the use of arsenic as a preservative after collection (7,8).

REFERENCES

  1. Kintz, P, Goullé JP, Fornes P, Ludes B. Une nouvelle série d'analyse des cheveux de Napoléon confirme une exposition chronique à l'arsenic. Ann de Toxicol Anal 2001 ; 13 : 243-6.
  2. Smith S, Hendry EB. Arsenic in relation to the keratin tissue. Br Med J 1934 ; 2 : 675-7.
  3. Young EG, Rice FAH. On the occurrence of arsenic in human hair and its medicolegal significance. J Lab Clin Med 1944 ; 29 : 439-46.
  4. Atalla LT, Silva CM, Lima FW. Activation analysis in human hair. Ann Acad Bras Cienc 1965 ; 37 : 433-41.
  5. Hindmarsh JT. Caveats in hair analysis in chronic arsenic poisoning. Clin Biochem 2002 ; 35 : 1-11.
  6. Cornelis R. Neutron activation analysis of hair, failure of a mission. J Radioanal Chem 1973 ; 15 : 305-16.
  7. Hindmarsh JT, Corso PF. The death of Napoleon: a critical review of the cause. J Hist Med Allied Sci 1998 ; 53 : 201-18.
  8. Hindmarsh JT, Corso PF. The illness of Napoleon Bonaparte and King George III : medical myths ? Eur J Lab Med 1999 ; 7 : 135-43.

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