Bill Cutler makes the case that my agnosticism about the alleged cause of Beethoven's death is unwarrented: >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. A few questions remain. Was lead commonly used for wine cups or was this a peculiarity of Beethoven's? Is it possible to test a sample of other remains of the same period? Such a study might serve as a kind of control. But in the final analysis, who really cares? Incidentally, despite my reservations, I have decided to replace my beloved lead wine cup- perhaps with something in selenium. Bernard Chasan