Napoleonic Analysis According to recent reports in both the scientific and lay press, analytical chemistry has now shown beyond a shadow of a doubt that Napoleon Bo naparte was not poisoned by fumes emitted from his designer wallpaper. X-ray fluorescence spectrometry has apparently put this weighty matter to rest once and for all, according to arti cles that appeared in Nature (1) and New Scientist (2). The story was also picked up by the New York Times (3). The theory that Napoleon was the victim of arsenic poisoning arose a number of years ago when a dentist, Sten Forshufvud, realized that some of the ailments suffered by Napoleon before his death resembled the symp toms of arsenic poisoning. When For shufvud had a Napoleonic hair ana lyzed by neutron activation analysis, arsenic was found to be present at a significant level. The method he used had originally been published in ANA
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LYTICAL C H E M I S T R Y (4). Forshufvud
suspected foul play and wrote a book to explain his theory. This is where the matter lay until David Ε. Η. Jones, a physicist at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, began to wonder if Napoleon could possibly have been extinguished by his wallpaper, since 19th-century wall paper was frequently manufactured with copper arsenite pigment. After procuring a piece of wallpaper from the room in St. Helena in which Napo leon died in 1821, Jones had it ana lyzed by X-ray fluorescence spectrom etry. Some arsenic was indeed still present in the sample, but not very much, leading Jones to conclude: "Na poleon's wallpaper could not have posed a serious threat to his life, but it may well have contributed to his ill ness" (i). But the investigation continues. Did Napoleon come into contact with ar senical draperies? Did his clothing contain arsenic? The full range of ar senical products with which Napoleon came in contact will perhaps never be known, but there is at least some com fort in the knowledge that it was defi nitely not the wallpaper. References (1) Jones, David Ε. Η.; Ledingham, Ken neth W. D. Nature 1982,299, 626-27. (2) Jones, David. New Scientist 1982,96, 101-4. (3) Wilford, John Noble. New York Times, Oct. 14,1982, A19. (4) Smith, Hamilton. Anal. Chem. 1959, 31,1361-63. Stuart A. Borman
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ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY, VOL. 54, NO. 14, DECEMBER 1982 · 1477 A
