Ray Bayles wrote:

>Many researchers believe that Beethoven's hearing may have been affected
>by the treatments he sought out, rather than the actual Syphilis, because
>he didn't have it long enough for the late manifestations to present
>themselves with enough power to affect his hearing.  He definitely knew
>he had the disease, but he most likely tried to cure himself with the
>assistance of doctors and charlatans while he was in the secondary stage.

"Definitely knew"? No, this is not true.  In not one of his letters or
other utterances he ever confirmed this assumption.  There's only remark
in his diary (dated 1814) that could be attributed to a possible fear that
he had contracted a veneral disease.  However, he didn't mention a name
nor the name of a medicine.  It's a very mysterious remark and various
researchers speculated that it had nothing to do with syphilis but
everything with thoughts about suicide.  The only proof in favor of the
hypothesis that Beethoven had syphilis is a rumor that was told during the
second half of the 19th century about a prescription by one of his doctors
(Bertolini) who showed a copy to Thayer.  Unfortunately the prescription
got lost.  We only have a letter by Thayer in which he writes about his
visit to Bertolini.  That's all, folks!  In contrast to this there's a
strong counter proof to the hypothesis:  Beethoven's liver.  A syphilis
liver shows very typical changings.  Beethoven's did not.  He surely died
of liver cirrhosis, but the kind of the cirrhosis fits very well to alcohol
abuse and absolutely not to syphilis.  For those who want to judge it
themselves:  a study of the autopsy report is very instructive indeed.
And it's a fact that the research of his hair, cut from his head after
his death, doesn't show a trace of the usual medicine, mercury of course.

Joyce Maier (mail to: [log in to unmask] or [log in to unmask])
www.ademu.com/Beethoven