This is a response to a response to a posting ... kind of like looking
in mirrors facing each other on opposite sides of a room.
Bernard Chasen responds to Larry Sherwood:
>>Beethoven died of lead poisoning.
>
>I think that there is room for agnosticism. The experimenters did the
>only thing they were equipped to do: analyze hair and fragments of remains
>for abundance of various elements. We accept a diagnosis from your
>doctor based only on the elements in your hair?
It should be noted that this chemical analysis of lead poisoning was
coupled with the knowledge that Beethoven drank from a favoured lead
cup. While not 100% conclusive, it presents evidence strong enough
to convince most juries or at least the ones portrayed on TV's Law and
Order. Add to this the 19th century corporate-conspiracy theory of wine
laced with lead to make it taste like fine-aged vintages posited by
Nicholas J. Yasillo and we have ourselves a lead-pipe (I mean lead-cup)
cinch that Beethoven was lead belly.
Ain't science wonderful?
Bill Cutler