A sample of the wallpaper from Napoleon’s rooms on Saint Helena, colored gold and Scheele’s green, was found and analyzed. It was originally made from copper arsenide or copper acetoarsenate. The article, published in Nature, confirmed the presence of arsenic in the wallpaper, which would explain the high levels of arsenic in his hair. Subsequent analyses (2008) found similar levels of arsenic in the hair of his wife Josephine and other family members: arsenic was found everywhere at the time.
