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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    20th, another regiment in St. Helena, although doming straight from England, and although stationed at Deadwood, a healthy place, had an annual mortality of 53 per thousand. In order to be quite certain I have made a comparison between the regiments stationed respectively in St. Helena, India, and England. During the period under review, the annual death-rate was 65 per thousand for India, 16 per thousand for England, and 40 per thousand for St. Helena. It seems impossible, therefore, in face of these facts, to resist the conclusion that, for rank and file at any rate, St. Helena was an unhealthy climate. The diseases responsible for this high death-rate in St. Helena were : (1) dysentery and bowel complaints; (2) liver complaints; (3) effects of the sun; and (4) chest complaints. There is much, therefore, to be said for Pro- fessor Keith’s “endemic theory”; and from a consideration of the evidence it appears to offer the only possible explanation of one set of symp- toms which Napoleon exhibited. The evidence regarding the malady of Napoleon has now been placed before you, I trust without prejudice, and without any attempt to press any view unduly. I hope you are now in a position to answer the questions which I ventured to ask at the beginning of this paper, and which I repeat again :—