Distribution of Arsenic in Napoleon'S Hair

Smith, Hamilton; Forshufvud, Sten; Wassén, Anders

doi:10.1038/194725a0

Cited by 56 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…Flynn et al (1974) studied the past copper and lead uptake of Alaskan Moose by longitudinal analysis of the hair shaft. The emperor Napoleon's hair (died 1821) has been found to contain abnormally high concentrations of arsenic consistent with arsenic poisoning (Forshufvud et al, 1964;Smith et al, 1962). Lenihan (1978) provided a general discussion of the technique and also summarised some data for Roman hair excavated in Dorchester, England, which have enabled an insight of the environmental conditions as long ago as 2000 years.…”

Section: Use Of Animal Specimensmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biological Monitoring of Heavy Metal Pollution

Martin

Coughtrey

1982

211

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Section: Use Of Animal Specimensmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biological Monitoring of Heavy Metal Pollution

Martin

Coughtrey

1982

211

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“…Centuries after their death, arsenic was detected in hair from the Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte 47 and cocaine in the hair of Peruvian mummies. 48 The stability of drugs in hair is dependent on the morphology and physicochemical properties of hair.…”

Section: Drug Stabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Hair testing is taking root

Cooper

2011

Ann Clin Biochem

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An increasing number of toxicology laboratories are choosing to expand the services they offer to include hair testing in response to customer demands. Hair provides the toxicologist with many advantages over conventional matrices in that it is easy to collect, is a robust and stable matrix that does not require refrigeration, and most importantly, provides a historical profile of an individual's exposure to drugs or analytes of interest. The establishment of hair as a complementary technique in forensic toxicology is a direct result of the success of the matrix in medicolegal cases and the wide range of applications. However, before introducing hair testing, laboratories must consider what additional requirements they will need that extend beyond simply adapting methodologies already validated for blood or urine. Hair presents many challenges with respect to the lack of available quality control materials, extensive sample handling protocols and low drug concentrations requiring greater instrument sensitivity. Unfortunately, a common pitfall involves over-interpretation of the findings and must be avoided.

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“…Similarly hair preparations such as, hair dye, bleach and perming solutions reduce the amount of the drug in the hair but the drug still remains detectable (Welch et al 1993), (Marsh et al 1995). Evidence of the long term stability of these drugs within the hair once bound into the matrix comes from the detection of cocaine in the hair of pre-Columbian and Egyptian mummies (Cartmell et al 1991), (Balabanova and Wof, 1989) and post-mortem findings of arsenic in the hair of Napoleon Bonaparte and laudanum in the hair of the romantic poet Keats, (Smith et al 1962), (Lyon, 1986 …”

Section: Hair Structure Growth and Collection For Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%