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
Catalogue details

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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    responsible for upholding the views of the British authorities. Now if the account just given of the political condition existing in St. Helena be true, it follows of necessity that all the evidence we have must be treated as suspect, and must be subjected to a rigorous investigation, if we are to arrive at a conclusion free from prejudice and error. The problem of deciding the nature of the illness of Napoleon will be solved with greater ease if we confine ourselves to a consideration of the clinical evidence first, and leave the patho- logical facts until the end of the paper. What clinical evidence have we on which to form an opinion? From the day Napoleon left Plymouth Roads to July 25, 1818, ali the medical evidence we possess proceeds from the able pen of Barry Edward O’Meara. During that period no other medical man saw Napoleon professionally, for the visits of Dr. Baxter were those of courtesy only. The evidence of O’Meara is found in his famous Voice from St. Helena, published after Napoleon’s death, and in a series of reports of the condition of the Emperor’s health, addressed every week to Sir Hudson Lowe. These reports fill the greater part of vol. 20,156 of the Lowe Papers. Of the two sources of information, the health reports written on the spot must, I think, be regarded as of greater