Uncover the mystery of Napoleon's cause of death

Medical experts have recently come up with more theories about the cause of Napoleon's death.

The mysterious death of Napoleon Bonaparte on the island of St. Helena, deserted on May 5, 1821, at the age of 51, always made headache for scientists. Many hypotheses were made when the French emperor had cancer, stomach bleeding to death or poisoned by British soldiers. There is a scientist who said that he had amoeba dysentery at exile, it caused pus in the liver, destroyed the organ and died.

However, a recent hypothesis has been made: the emperor Napoleon died of arsenic poisoning (arsenic) from the cover of a book. The experts suggested this theory because they found a cover of the book - about the size of an A3 paper - supposedly in the emperor's room at the time.

Accordingly, the outer layer of books is used on the island of St. Helena contains high concentrations of arsenic compounds for storage. Very likely, with the humid climate in St. Helena - these covers are moldy, release toxic arsin (AsH ₃ ) gas. The emperor Napoleon inhaled this gas from the book covers for a long time and died.

Photos inside the book

Previously, in 1961, experts also analyzed Napoleon's hair and saw an unexpectedly high rate of arsenic and suspected he was poisoned by the British soldier slowly. This finding will help scientists further reinforce the theory that Napoleon died of arsenic poisoning.

Richard Westwood-Brookes said: "This is the largest cover ever discovered and it is very rare. Previously, we had only small pieces of paper but this time, its size was A3 paper."

Explaining this book cover, Mr. Westwood-Brookes predicted, when Napoleon died, the British soldiers wanted to save the small memories in his room so they took it. This will be one of the precious specimens, providing researchers with new information about the mysterious death of the French emperor.