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Clothes appear to
confirm the official explanation for Napoleon's
death | |
A study of Napoleon Bonaparte's trousers could put an end to the theory
that the French Emperor was poisoned.
Napoleon died aged 52 on St Helena in the south Atlantic where he had
been banished after his defeat at Waterloo.
His post mortem showed he
died of stomach cancer, but it has been suggested arsenic poisoning or over-zealous
treatment was to blame.
Now Swiss researchers say his trousers show he lost weight prior his
death, confirming he had cancer.
The research, by scientists from the anatomical pathology department of the
University Hospital in Basel and the Institute of Medical History at the
University of Zurich, looked at 12 pairs of Napoleon's trousers.
Four were from before his exile and eight were pairs he wore during the
six years he spent in exile on St Helena, including the pair he wore while
dying.
The researchers also collated information from post mortems on the
weights of patients who had died of stomach cancer.
They then measured the waists of healthy people to work out the
correlation between that measurement and their actual weight.
This information was then used to calculate Napoleon's weight in the
months leading up to his death.
The largest pair of trousers Napoleon wore had a waist measurement of
110cm; those he wore just before his death measured 98cm.
This, they say, shows he lost between 11 and 15kg over the last six
months of his life.
The Swiss team say the presence of arsenic in Napoleon's hair, the
source of the poisoning theory, was linked to this enthusiasm for wine.
At the time, it was the custom of winemakers to dry their casks and
basins with arsenic.
(Agencies) |
一項(xiàng)對(duì)拿破侖·波拿巴穿過的褲子的研究也許可以推翻這位法蘭西皇帝中毒身亡的理論。
滑鐵盧戰(zhàn)役慘敗后，拿破侖被流放到大西洋南部的圣赫勒拿島上，后逝世于此，享年52歲。
尸檢報(bào)告顯示他死于胃癌，但也有跡象表明他的死因可能是砷中毒，也可能是過度治療。
最近，有瑞士研究者指出，從拿破侖穿過的褲子可以看出他死前體重逐漸下降，這證實(shí)他死于癌癥。
瑞士巴塞爾大學(xué)醫(yī)院解剖病理學(xué)院和蘇黎世大學(xué)醫(yī)學(xué)史研究所的科學(xué)家們聯(lián)手進(jìn)行了這項(xiàng)研究，他們共分析了12條拿破侖生前穿過的褲子。
其中有四條褲子是他被流放之前穿過的，另外八條是他在流放圣赫勒拿島的六年間穿的，包括他臨死前穿的那一條。
研究者們還比較了從死于胃癌的病人的尸檢報(bào)告中獲取的體重下降的信息。
然后他們測(cè)量了健康人的腰圍，并由此推出腰圍和實(shí)際體重之間的關(guān)系
隨后，這些信息被用來推測(cè)拿破侖死前幾個(gè)月的體重情況。
拿破侖生前穿過的最大的一條褲子的腰圍是110厘米，而他逝世前穿過的褲子的腰圍只有98厘米。
研究者們宣稱，這表明在拿破侖生命的最后六個(gè)月里，他的體重減輕了11到15公斤。
瑞士研究小組表示，推測(cè)拿破侖死于中毒的理論來源是他頭發(fā)中所含的砷，但這也可能與他嗜酒的習(xí)慣有關(guān)。
當(dāng)時(shí)的釀酒者通常用砷來干燥盛酒的盆和桶。
（中國(guó)日?qǐng)?bào)網(wǎng)站譯） |
Updated: 2005-05-10 09:58
