Napoleon.

This is coolbert:

"couper les cheveux an quartre - - splitting hairs."

Consider the deaths of some of the Great Captains of the past.

* Alexander of Macedon [The Great] - - died in bed from "the fever" [the fever [malaria??] was a diagnosis for a whole host of ailments in the time of Alexander].

* Julius Caesar - - stabbed innumerable times by close associates of his [et tu Brute!!].

* Genghis Khan - - had a premonition of his death and returned to his birthplace to await death and be buried [exact cause of death unknown].

* Horatio Nelson - - shot and killed by a French sniper at the very instant of his most momentous victory.

* Napoleon - - exact cause of death unknown.

With regard to Napoleon, it seems that his death has created a veritable cottage industry of theories with advocates not unlike that of the Kennedy assassination.

[this is off topic, but somewhat germane nonetheless. When JFK was assassinated, the autopsy was done by his personal Presidential physician, by law, a Navy Admiral. This Admiral was a doctor, but not trained to do an autopsy or authorized under the laws of Texas to do same. The original autopsy record was destroyed as it was so smeared by blood. The Admiral reconstructed his records from memory some time later. THIS AUTOPSY REPORT HAS BEEN THE SOURCE OF ALL THE CONTROVERSY SURROUNDING THE JFK ASSASSINATION. USED BY CONSPIRACY ADVOCATES EVER SINCE!! GIGO? Garbage IN=Garbage OUT? Well, you take it from there!!]

The May 2005 National Geographic has an excellent article dealing with the various "theories" surrounding the death of Napoleon and evidence yea or nay!

These theories include:

* Political murder. "Napoleon was poisoned by the British and by French royalists", samples of Napoleon's hair . . . confirmed the long-term presence of arsenic."

* Environmental poisoning. " "Poisoned by his wallpaper", "The wallpaper . . . Where Napoleon lived . . . was painted with Scheele's green . . . when attacked by certain molds . . . arsenic would have been released into the air."

* Malpractice. "Napoleon's doctors gave him large doses of purgatives . . . threw Napoleon's electrolytes into total disarry . . . resulting in cardiac arrest."

[at the time, this sort of treatment would NOT have been considered malpractice. WAS THE WAY ILLNESS WAS TREATED, AGAIN, AT THE TIME!!]

* Disease. "Cancer and ulcers as reported in the autopsy."

* Revenge. "Napoleon had an affair - - and fathered a child with the Count's wife. The Count, it is observed, had charge of Napoleon's wine cellar and food."

* "no conclusion . . ."Everyone is right, and no one is right."

C'est le guerre.

coolbert.