The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-01-07
DID oHLoRAL KILL NAPOLEON
lII.P
The Statement That 1t Did Made on
the Alleged Authority of DR., Evans.


the Alleged Authority of DR.. Evans.
The death of Napoleon Ill, in 1873, was
supposed at the time to have been the re-
suit of surgical operation, and the real
facts in the case have been suppressed
from the public as well as from the medi-
cal profession. But this fact is now dem
onstrated to me. 1t is well known that
DR.. Thomas w. Evans, the celebrated
American dentist of Paris assisted the
Empress Eugene to escape from Paris
during the late war with Germany. DR.
Evans informed the writer of this that he
intends, after time, to publish all the
facts incident to the death of Napoleon
III. at Chiselhurst have not only the
authority of Dr. Evans, but also the state
ment Of DR.. Gage, of London, in saying
that Napoleon did not die from the shock
of a surgical operation, but from dose of
choral administered two days after the
operation.
Louis Napoleon began to complain early
in 1870, and was in failing health at the
commencement of tine war with Germany,
but although his French medical advisers
stated that he had some kidney or similar
affection, they never accurately recog-
nized or made known the exact nature Of,
his malady. At the time of the battle
of Sedan, and when he was captured, he
was suffering most intensely, and the
cause of his suffering (Which was then
unknown) proved to be fit of stone"
Not until his arrival in London, and at
his residence at Chiselhurst, after CON
sulting Sir Henry Thompson, was the
true diagnosis of'his ailment made known.
BY careful examination Of the patient,
and sounding, the existence of a stone in
the bladder was diagnosticated
The operation of hthotomy was advised
and twas made by Sir Henry Thompson on
Jan. 10, 1873, and, with the assistance of sew
eral physicians, the calculus was removed.
The emperor endured the operation well
and reacted satisfactorily, and JOY reigned
within the imperial household Every
thing looked favorable. On the day fol-
lowing the operation his temperature was
normal and he took nourishment with a
relish and was full of hope and in the best
of spirits. SIR Henry Thompson regarded
hiIa as being in no danger. Napoleon's
son, Prince Louis, who was then pupil
at Woolwich, was at home during the
operation, but returned to school the
next day after the operation, as the whole
outlook was decidedly hopeful.
In England it is the custom, when a
surgical operation is necessary for the
surgeon to make the operation, but for
the attending physician to make all the
prescriptions Sir William Gull was the
emperors physician, and ON the evening
of Jan. IL, the second day after the oper-
alton, dose of choral was ordered.
The emperor objected to taking it, and
even absolutely refused to do sc, because a
dose of it had been given him the evening
previous, and, although il produced sleep,
1t left him with such a feeling of oppres-
sion and malaise, that he remarked in a
cOmmOn-sense way that as he was doing
well and suffering no especial pain, he did
not think another dose was required. Of
the suggestions of the imperial patient
himself had been followed it might not
have been so well politically for the peace
of Europe.) The eminent Sir William
Gull insisted that the medicine should be
taken, and the empress was appealed to
to advise the emperor to obey his doctor.
Through her persuasions the emperor
yielded, and the dose was swallowed.
The action of the chloral upon Napoleon
was to produce great depression, followed
by profound euthanasia that ended in
an eternal sleep-the sleep of death.
Sir William Gull, so well known as the
court physician of Queen Victoria and
the Prince of Wales, has passed away, but
Sir Henry Thompson still lives, and the
surgeon who successfully removed the
calculus was not responsible for Napo-
Icons fatal sleep. After Napoleon sud
den death there was, as If by consensus
of agreement, little said in London jour-
nails about, and no official report of the
autopsy was ever given. The action was
resolved upon out of respect to the feel
ings of the sadly afflicted aud Inflated
empress, whose many disappointments in
this life have been truly overwhelming