Article ID: CBB869025758

Did Descartes Die of Poisoning? (2019)

unapi

The paper discusses the circumstances of the fatal illness and the death of René Descartes in 1650 at the French embassy in Stockholm. It considers the hitherto available evidence, in particular the main medical documents: two letters, the first written in Dutch by Descartes’ servant, Henri Schluter, the second written in Latin by the Dutch doctor Johann van Wullen. English translations of these two documents are given respectively in Appendix 1 and Appendix 3 of this paper. Other documents, letters by the French ambassador, Pierre Chanut, or the report in the Descartes biography by Adrien Baillet, are also discussed. An analysis of the documentary evidence indicates a high probability that Descartes was poisoned with arsenic on two occasions, on February 2nd and again on February 8th, the second poisoning proving to be fatal. The paper then discusses the questions of ‘whodunnit’ and why. Keywords: René Descartes; poisoning by arsenic; French Embassy in Stockholm; François Viogué; Pierre Chanut; Johann van Wullen; medicine; pneumonia; Queen Christina of Sweden

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Authors & Contributors
Parascandola, John
Bertomeu Sánchez, José Ramón
Berry, Chelsea
De Carli, Manuel
Radici, Livia
Whorton, James C.
Concepts
Poisoning
Medicine
Arsenic
Chemistry
Toxicology
Correspondence and corresponding
Time Periods
17th century
19th century
18th century
Renaissance
16th century
Medieval
Places
Germany
France
Great Britain
Austria
Hellenistic world
Leiden (Netherlands)
Institutions
Académie des Sciences, Paris
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