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wonderwench · 06-30-2004, 02:53 PM

I read the book 14 or 15 years ago, so my memory is a bit hazy. I did google up the following from a review:

(Note, the emphasis of the book is on how an infected diet has affected the course of history.)

from the book jacket: "Matossian begins by analyzing statistics on
fertility and mortality kept in Russia between 1865 and 1914... the
consumption of rye bread correlated with epidemics of food poisoning
that often resulted in mental illness, a decline in fertility, or
death ... witch persecution in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century
Europe, showing that witch trials were concentrated in areas where rye
was the main cereal and the climate was cold and damp ... colonial
America, examining the throat distemper epidemic of 1735-36, the Salem
witchcraft persecution of 1692, and the Great Awakening of 1741, and
relating all of these to mold poisoning."

Of course the main mold she's writing about is ergot, Claviceps
purpurea. Her thesis is that there were periods when rye bread was
consumed heavily, even when it had the pink tinge caused by an ergot
content of 3-5%. Few cared that the grain had mold on it in the field
or in storage. They ate it and suffered symptoms of various severity.
Ergotamine is vasoconstrictive and can cause "dry gangrene", where
fingers and toes or chunks of flesh turn black and rot off. Ergonovine
may act as an abortifacient.

.........................................

"Between July 20 and August 6, 1789, waves of panic swept over the
French countryside. The new rye crop was just harvested, but there
were rumors that brigands were coming to seize it. Many people
believed they had glimpsed these bandits and feared it was already too
late: women would be raped and murdered, children massacred, homes set
afire. As tocsins rang, the peasants, weeping and shouting, fled into
the woods to hide or armed themselves with pitchforks, scythes, and
hunting rifles ... The 'Great Fear' among the landless aroused a great
fear among landowners, an apprehension that the peasants might seize
property and turn upon their masters. To forestall any such
catastrophe, the National Constituent Assembly met on the night of
August 4 in Versailles...and voted to abolish what was thereafter to
be called the 'ancien regime'." Matossian found physicians reports of
marked increases in "nervous diseases" in the second half of July, and
that "ergot horns were found on about one-twelfth of all ears of rye."

Link

06-30-2004, 02:53 PM	#12 (permalink)
wonderwench Banned	I read the book 14 or 15 years ago, so my memory is a bit hazy. I did google up the following from a review: (Note, the emphasis of the book is on how an infected diet has affected the course of history.) from the book jacket: "Matossian begins by analyzing statistics on fertility and mortality kept in Russia between 1865 and 1914... the consumption of rye bread correlated with epidemics of food poisoning that often resulted in mental illness, a decline in fertility, or death ... witch persecution in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Europe, showing that witch trials were concentrated in areas where rye was the main cereal and the climate was cold and damp ... colonial America, examining the throat distemper epidemic of 1735-36, the Salem witchcraft persecution of 1692, and the Great Awakening of 1741, and relating all of these to mold poisoning." Of course the main mold she's writing about is ergot, Claviceps purpurea. Her thesis is that there were periods when rye bread was consumed heavily, even when it had the pink tinge caused by an ergot content of 3-5%. Few cared that the grain had mold on it in the field or in storage. They ate it and suffered symptoms of various severity. Ergotamine is vasoconstrictive and can cause "dry gangrene", where fingers and toes or chunks of flesh turn black and rot off. Ergonovine may act as an abortifacient. ......................................... "Between July 20 and August 6, 1789, waves of panic swept over the French countryside. The new rye crop was just harvested, but there were rumors that brigands were coming to seize it. Many people believed they had glimpsed these bandits and feared it was already too late: women would be raped and murdered, children massacred, homes set afire. As tocsins rang, the peasants, weeping and shouting, fled into the woods to hide or armed themselves with pitchforks, scythes, and hunting rifles ... The 'Great Fear' among the landless aroused a great fear among landowners, an apprehension that the peasants might seize property and turn upon their masters. To forestall any such catastrophe, the National Constituent Assembly met on the night of August 4 in Versailles...and voted to abolish what was thereafter to be called the 'ancien regime'." Matossian found physicians reports of marked increases in "nervous diseases" in the second half of July, and that "ergot horns were found on about one-twelfth of all ears of rye." Link