Death of Napoleon Bonaparte ~ 5th May 1821


.
Exiled from his beloved France, he had been getting sicker for several months.
He was suffering from recurrent abdominal pain, progressive weakness and constipation.
When he was not constipated he was assailed by diarrhea, and he lost a lot of weight.
Napoleons last weeks were plagued by vomiting, incessant hiccups and blood clots, or thrombophlebitis, in various parts of his body.

The night sweats left him drenched.
His gums, lips and nails were colourless.
Briefly, he got it into his head that he was being poisoned, but then he decided, he had the same cancer that had killed his father, and that all medical help was useless.
On 4 May 1821, he lost consciousness.
On 5 May, news went out to a shocked world that the great man was dead.

This was exacerbated by bleeding gastric ulcers, after a huge dose of calomel.
Calomel was a compound containing mercury, regularly used as medicine ~ which was administered to Napoleon, the day before he died.

Napoleon’s famous body part has changed hands several times since its removal, and currently belongs to Evan Lattimer, who inherited it from her father who was a urologist.

.

.

Reacties
Een reactie posten