The fatal illness of Napoleon : a paper read before the Historical Section of the International Congress of Medicine, London (August 8, 1913) / by Arnold Chaplin.

  • Chaplin, Arnold.
Date:
1913
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Licence: In copyright

Credit: The fatal illness of Napoleon : a paper read before the Historical Section of the International Congress of Medicine, London (August 8, 1913) / by Arnold Chaplin. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    was being done to mitigate the rigours of confine- ment, compatible with the safe custody of the prisoner. The party at Longwood proclaimed to the world that the climate of St. Helena, added to the harsh treatment meted out to the Emperor, had produced endemic hepatitis which was gradually killing him. This charge was met by the British authorities with a flat denial. They insisted that the illness was diagnosed wrongly, and greatly exaggerated, if, indeed, it existed at all. They refused to believe in the theory of endemic hepatitis, since acquiescence would damage their contention that St. Helena was an ideal place in which to confine a fallen Napoleon. As usual, the truth lay between these two extremes. It is not surprising, therefore, that the canker ! of exaggeration and violent partisanship ate its i way into the deliberations of the doctors, vitiated their views, and divided them, after the manner of their superiors, into two hostile camps, of which one was representative of the policy of Longwood and the hepatitis theory, while the other was for the British authorities and its practical negation of ill health. In this differ- ence of opinion O’Meara, Stokoe, and Antom- marchi represented the Longwood policy of Napoleon and his followers, while Arnott, Baxter, Shortt, Henry, Rutledge, and Burton were