Lecture13: Ergot of Rye I

Introduction

Ergot of Rye is a plant disease that is caused by the fungus Claviceps purpurea. The so-called ergot (Figs. 1-2) that replaces the grain of the rye is a dark, purplish sclerotium that will over winter. A sclerotium is a structure composed of tightly interwoven mycelium with a food reserve. The food reserve of the ergot is utilized, during the winter, while it is dormant. In the spring, the sclerotium will give rise to stromata (Fig. 3), the structures  in which the asci and ascospores (Fig. 4) are borne. Although the ergot is far different in appearance than the true grain, its occurrence was so common that it was once thought to be part of the rye plant, until the 1850's, when the true nature of the ergot was understood. Although the common name indicates that this fungus is a disease of rye, it also can infect several other grains, with rye being the most common host for this species.

It is the ergot stage of the fungus that contains a storehouse of various ergoline compounds. These are alkaloid compounds that are present in plants and fungi that are often toxic when ingested. However, a number of alkaloid derived from the ergot fungus have also been useful as pharmaceutical drugs (Cassady, et al 1974). Ergotamine was the first alkaloid derived, from C. purpurea, for medicinal use. It was first isolated and it structure characterized, in 1918, by Arthur Stoll of the Chemical Company Kern & Sandoz (now Novartis International AG), in Basel, Switzerland. However, it would not be until 1951 that the full structure would be established (Lee, 2009). Today, it is still utilized for the treatment of migraines and has also been used to control post partum bleeding following child birth. Isolation of more medicinal alkaloids soon followed. These include ergometrine, used to ease the ejection of the placenta and to prevent bleeding during child birth, bromocriptine, used in a variety of disorders including Parkinson's disease and type 2 diabetes and the most well known of the ergolines, Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), primarily known for its use as a recreational drugs, starting in the 1960's. 

Poisoning due to consumption of ergot infected rye by humans as well as other mammals is referred to as ergotism.  Based on our knowledge of the symptoms of ergot poisoning, ergotism has been recorded since the middle ages and possibly even as far back as ancient Greece.

 There are approximately 50 species of Claviceps, with most occurring on grasses. All species form the sclerotium that is described above, and will form the same types of compounds. Although some research have been carried out in these other species, the bulk of our knowledge and most of our research has been concerned with Ergot of Rye.

Symptoms Caused By Consumption of Ergot of Rye

There are two sets of symptoms that are recognized in cases of ergot poisoning: convulsive and gangrenous ergotism (Christensen, 1975; Huddler, 1998; Lee, 2009).

Convulsive ergotism is characterized by neural dysfunction, where the victim is twisting and contorting their body in pain, trembling and shaking, and wryneck, a more or less fixed twisting of the neck, which seems to simulate convulsions or fits. In some cases, this is accompanied by muscle spasms, confusions, delusions and hallucinations.

In gangrenous ergotism, the victim may lose parts of their extremities, such as toes, fingers (Fig. 5), ear lobes or in more serious cases, arms and legs may be lost. This type of ergotism causes gangrene to occur by constricting the blood vessels leading to the extremities. Because of the decrease in blood flow, infections occur in the extremities, accompanied by burning pain. Once gangrene has occurred, the fingers, toes, etc. become mummified, and will eventually fall off. When large quantities are consumed death may occur. Gangrenous ergotism is also common in farm animals grazing on infected rye or other grains (Fig. 6).

Since two sets of symptoms of ergotism is known to occur, it may be expected that individuals consuming infected rye would exhibited both sets of symptoms. However, this is rarely the case (Lee, 2009). In Europe, what has generally been observed is that gangrenous ergotism occurred west of the Rhine (Fig. 7) while the convulsive form occurred to the east (Lee, 2009). It was once thought that the two set of symptoms of ergotism was due to different chemical components of the ergots in different populations of C. claviceps (Huddler, 1998; Lee, 2009). However, according to Lee (2009), this hypothesis appears to be incorrect, but no other explanation was offered.

Discovery of the Cause of Ergotism

The Cultivation of Secale cereale (Rye) and the Origin of Ergotism

Although other grasses may also become infected with C. purpurea, it most commonly occurs on rye. The distribution of C. purpurea also appears to be associated with the cultivation of rye.  Thus, there are no reliable records of ergotism prior to the cultivation of rye. Rye was a weed grain and occurred wherever wheat was cultivated. Often it became the dominant plant when wheat fields were abandoned. However, it was not actually cultivated for food until some time, in the early Middle Ages, in what is now eastern Europe and western Russia. The first documented cases of ergotism, specifically gangrenous ergotism occurred in the kingdom of the Franks, during the 8th. and 9th. centuries (Carefoot and Sprott, 1967). The first major outbreak occurred in in 944-945 A.D, in the Aquitane region of France, with 40,000 deaths recorded as a result of gangrenous ergotism (Schiff, 2006). It was at this time that the symptoms (but not the knowledge of what caused the symptoms) from consumption of ergot was called Holy Fire. "Fire" because of the burning, prickling sensations, in the extremities, that were experienced by the victims of gangrenous ergotism, and "Holy" because of the belief that this was a punishment from God. The victims' toes, fingers, arms and legs often became blackened as a result of gangrene, and would eventually fall off from the infections in these extremities. Numerous epidemics of gangrenous ergotism followed, with thousands dying as a result of the continual consumption of infected rye, with the most susceptible victims often being children.

In 1039, another outbreak occurred in France. However, during this outbreak, a hospital was erected in order to care for the victims of ergotism, by Gaston de la Valloire. De la Valloire dedicated this hospital to St. Anthony, and through this gesture Holy Fire came to called St. Anthony's Fire (Lee, 2009). Monks would eventually start the order of St. Anthony and over 370 hospitals would be built for those ailing from Holy Fire, in the name of St. Anthony. Each hospital was symbolically painted red to inform the illiterate that aide was available to help alleviate their pain. Those who came often did find relief from ergotism. This was probably due to the absence of rye bread from the victims' diet during their care in the hospital. However, those inflicted by ergotism, and healed, were likely to be inflicted again since the cause of this strange disease was unknown.

The plague of St. Anthony's Fire was also responsible for some of the geographical boundary of Europe today (Carefoot and Sprott, 1967). During the one hundred years between 800-900 A.D., The Holy Roman Empire, which was formed by Pope Leo III, was one of those areas affected by gangrenous ergotism. This was a part of Europe that was populated by the Franks and during this period thousands of peasants died from eating bread made from the infected grain. During this period, a race of people from Scandinavia, the Northmen (Vikings) invaded the Holy Roman Empire. With their superior size and fighting ability, and of course the fact that a large population of the Franks had just suffered from ergot poisoning, they easily defeated the Franks who lived along the coastal regions. Before this time, the Vikings had already settled permanently on the northwest coast of France and had already exerted pressure on the Holy Roman Empire with their numerous raids. Because of the constant successful raids in this area, Charles the Third was forced to abdicate the throne by 887 and this led to the split of the Holy Roman Empire into two kingdoms. The kingdom of the West Franks became France and the kingdom of the East Franks became Germany. Through it all the Northmen were unaffected by the ergotism because rye was not their staple food. By 911, the Northmen's hold on the northwest coast of France was complete, and the king of France ceded to them what would become Normandy. The people that settled Normandy adopted the French religion, language and culture, and would eventually become assimilated by France. Today, Normandy is a part of France, but its recognition as a region is still recognized.

Without question the Northmen were warriors of superior size and fighting skill, but it is impossible to say how successful their invasion, against the Franks, would have been if the wave of ergotism had not occurred at this same time. 

What is now France was the center of many of these severe epidemics because rye was the staple crop of the poor, and the cool, wet climate was conducive for the development of ergot. Ergot infection of rye was more likely during these wet periods because the rye flower remained opened longer, which provided more opportunity for the fungus to infect the flower. The regular rye grain and the hard, purplish black, grain-like ergot produced by the fungus were harvested and ground together during milling. The flour produced was then contaminated with the toxic alkaloids of the fungus.  Because the cause was unknown, no cure was available (you don't have to know the cause of a disease to cure it, but it sure helps; also knowing the cause of a disease does not mean an immediate cure will be found). Until people realized that the consumption of ergot was the cause of the disease, there was no rational way by which treatment could proceed. 

France suffered many waves of ergotism throughout its history beginning around the eight and ninth century and continuing for the next 800 years. From the year 900 AD, when records evidently became common in what is now France and Germany, to around 1300 AD, there were severe epidemics of ergotism over large areas every five to ten years.

It was not until 1670 that a French physician, Dr. Thuillier, put forth the concept that it was not an infectious disease, but one was due to the consumption of rye infected with ergot that was responsible for the outbreaks of St. Anthony's Fire (Carefoot and Sprott, 1967; Huddler, 1998).

Thuillier's Discovery of the Cause of Ergotism

Dr. Thuillier was all too familiar with the symptoms of ergotism for he had seen hundreds of such victims. From treating such victims, he had formulated some generalities concerning Holy Fire. He recognized that it was far different from infectious diseases with which he was familiar. Unlike those diseases, ergotism was not common in urban areas, where the population density was great and conditions were unsanitary, but rather in rural areas among the poor. It also did not seem to be contagious since it might strike only one member of a family and not the others, or if an entire family has the malady, their immediate neighbors may not become sick. Some victims were even known to be living in isolation for months, yet still contracted this dreaded disease. Children and feeble people were more susceptible than others and nursing mothers might see the symptoms in their babies. However, the strangest feature of this disease that Thuillier observed was that it appeared money could buy one's freedom from St. Anthony's Fire since the rich did not seem to contract the disease. Thus, Dr. Thuillier believed the disease was not infectious and that the symptoms that arose must have something to do with the victim's environment. Some causes could be immediately eliminated. It seemed unlikely that the fresh country air and sunshine could be responsible for the disease, and the country and city folks all drank from the same source of water could not be the cause. Thus, he thought diet was the key to the disease.

On his visits to his patience, in the country, he noted the food that was set out on the tables. There was usually pork or beans, but the main staple and what always seemed to be present was a loaf of rye bread, which always seemed to be prominently displayed in the center of the table. A few families began eating potatoes by this time and Thuillier initially believe that this was the possible cause of this disease, but at this time potatoes had not yet become popular enough of a food item in family meals and St. Anthony's Fire had been known hundreds of years prior to the introduction of the potato to Europe. As farmers brought their goods to market, Thuillier also noted that the city dwellers consumed rich beef, poultry, truffles and white bread. Although he had all the information that was needed to solve this puzzle, it was not until he was walking through the country as he had done on so many occasions before that the answer came to him. Passing through fields of rye infected with ergot, Thuillier suddenly realized that he had walked by this such fields countless numbers of time, but have never considered what the French farmers called cock's spur, as being harmful. Thuillier also had knowledge of these structures from his readings and knew that they had been used by alchemist in their potions to hasten child birth. However, he also realized that even medicine must be carefully measured out in their dosage for too much of a good medicine could just as well be a poison. He then looked into his records and found that in years when ergot infection was high, the "Fire" raged and thousands died. Although he was convinced that this was the answer, the evidence at hand was still not conclusive and Thuillier could not convince the farmers that this was the cause of this dreaded disease. It would be another two hundred years before Ergot was demonstrated to be a fungus that was causing gangrenous and convulsive ergotism.

In 1853, Louis Tulasne, an early mycologist and illustrator, worked out the life cycle for the Ergot of Rye (Lee, 2009). In his examination of the development of the rye flower, he concluded that the ergot was a fungus that was growing on the inconspicuous flower of the rye and that the fungus, and not the rye itself, was the culprit. The sclerotium or ergot that grows on the rye is an over wintering stage and not met for consumption by either man or animals. In fact, we now know today that the ergot, as is true of many other fungi and plants, had evolved with numerous alkaloids as protection against such events occurring. Once the ergot stage has survived the winter, it will germinate to form mushroom-like structures that will produce the sexual spore stage, during the spring. This spore stage will be ejected from the fruit bodies by the fungus and dispersed by wind to the rye flower where a new infection will begin. However, the probability that a spore will happen to come to rest on a rye flower is very remote, but only a few infections are necessary for the lifecycle to continue. Once the infection does occur, a new, asexual spore stage is now produced, which is far more effective in infecting the rye flowers. This is called the Spacelia stage, which produces its spores in a "honey dew" exudates that will attract flies and beetles. As they visit each flower, looking for more honey, they carry the ergot spores from rye flower to rye flower, causing new infections with each visit, throughout the spring and summer months. When winter approaches, sclerotia are formed that will allow them to survive until the following spring. The life cycle is summarized below in Fig. 8.

 Historical Events In Which Ergotism Was Believed To Have Been Involved

Ergotism and the Bubonic Plague

In order to understand the disease, let us first go over its life history. The bacterium, Yersinia pestis, is the actual pathogenic agent that causes the Bubonic Plague. However, it does not directly infect humans, most commonly, Xenopsylla cheopis, a species of flea that specifically infects rats is the carrier of the disease. Pulex irritans, a flea that typically infects human can carry also carry the disease, but this is uncommon. The disease cycle begins when the bacterium enters the stomach of a flea that has bitten an infected rat and dined on its blood. If the rat host dies of the disease or for some other reason, the flea will have to find another host. If the flea should bite a human and sucks its blood, it regurgitates blood and the bacterium into the bite site thereby infecting its human host. It was believed that during the High Middle Ages, the 1100s-1200s, Europe was in a period of relatively good health and population growth. However, this ended between 1348-1350, when a major epidemic of the Bubonic Plague struck. It is estimated that 1/3 to 1/2 of Europe’s population died as a result of the plague. Although the death toll on this occasion was high, a depression in the population of Europe lasted until 1490. This puzzled historians since even with such a high number of deaths, population recovery should have occurred by the next generation, unless other factors were involved. Necrosis, bleeding and an ulcerous swollen throat, symptoms of damage to cells in the bone marrow were observed in many victims. These symptoms indicated widespread damage to the human immune system. 

Matossian (1989) believed that while deaths could ultimately be attributed to Bubonic Plague, the consumption of grains infected with T-2 or related mycotoxins compromised the immune system and increased the likelihood of death in humans and rats. Because of the increase in death of rats, the fleas carrying the disease would require a new host, which in heavily populated area, often was a human host. This led to a higher death rate than might have normally occurred. She also presented evidence, based on what seemed to be selectivity of the disease, based on age and wealth, grain storage and environmental moisture.

• The age groups that were most impacted by the plague were children 5-14 years and youths 15-24 years. The latter groups had mortality rates that were three times normal during the plague while the children between 1 to 4 years had a mortality rate of less than average. Matossian believed that age, activity and diet played a major role in the mortality rate. The youngest children during this period tended to be on a diet of porridge, which would normally be boiled long enough to break down the mycotoxin. Those in the age groups with the high mortality rate, because of their growth spurts and activity, consumed more calories per unit body weight than other age groups and therefore consumed more mycotoxin. The poor also had a greater mortality rate than the rich. This can probably be attributed to the ability of the latter groups ability to move away from areas of plague and to be more selective in their diet. The poor were often forced to consume substandard food that more than likely were contaminated with mold during the plague.

• The highest incidents of plague occurred in areas where there were large surpluses of grain stored. The large surpluses of grain attracted large populations of rats who were the vector transmitting the plague. Surplus grains were also the source of mycotoxins when wet and became contaminated with fungi.

• There also appeared to be a strong correlation between the occurrence of  plague and the amount of rain, humidity and flooding. Areas of Europe where such conditions prevailed were hit hardest with the plague. For example, England had a very wet summer, during 1348, where the mortality was high. However, neighboring Scotland that same year was dry and the plague did not spread widely there, until the wet summer of 1350. Areas that were cold, but dried, such as Iceland, northern Norway and Sweden, Finland, and large areas of Russia and the Balkans escaped the the plague, entirely. Thus, the plague did not find its way throughout Europe, but was rather restricted in its distribution. Matossian cites Graham Twigg (1936) as a historian who believed that the plague was only present in Mediterranean ports and a few cities where there was a dense human and rat population. 

Due to the cold and wet years that occurred in 1348-50, in certain areas of Europe, grain crops, which were the staple for Europe at this time, were thought to have been contaminated with T-2 or related toxins that damaged the immune systems of both rats and humans. The damage to the immune systems of both rats and human is is believed to be one the contributing factors that led to the high mortality during the Bubonic Plague. However, other causes of depressed immune systems, other than fungal in origin, may also have occurred at this time.

When the greatest mortality due to the Bubonic Plague had passed, areas that were hard hit with the plague did not recover. This puzzled historians, although there were still some incidents of famine and diseases, after the plague, generally there was not a lack of food nor a great deal of disease since the populations in many areas had been drastically reduced by the plague. However, there was still a population depression even a generation after the plague, and longer . Populations in many areas had still not reached levels that were present before the plague. After the plague, the winters were unusually cold. This affected the diet of the poor more than the wealthy. In those years where the winters were cooler, rye would be more likely to survive than wheat. This made it more likely that rye would be consumed, and while the rye survived the cold temperatures, the plants were traumatized and were more susceptible to infections by Ergot. Evidence that Ergot poisoning was occurring was based on reports of nervous system disorders. In summer of 1355, there was an epidemic of “madness” in England. People believed that they saw demons. In 1374, a wet year, marked by a lack of food, there was an outbreak of hallucinations, convulsions and compulsive dancing in the Rhineland. Some people imagined they were drowning in a stream of blood. In addition to nervous system disorders such as those described above, Ergot poisoning is also known to reduce fertility and cause spontaneous abortions. With the greater consumption of rye, coupled with consumption of grains infected with T-2 and related mycotoxin that is believed to have increased mortality and shortened the consumer's life span by compromising their immune system,  were possibly the reason for the population depression during this period of time. It would not be until almost the 15th. Century that an upward trend in population would begin.

Ergotism and Witchcraft

The story of the infamous witchcraft trials in Salem, Massachusetts took place between 1692 and 1693. During this time hundreds of people were accused of witchcraft and imprisoned, as many as 13 may have died there and 20 were tried, found guilty of witchcraft and executed. 

The story began in January of 1692, when Reverend Samuel Parris' daughter Elizabeth, age 9, and niece Abigail Williams, 

age 11, and other friends spent evenings with Tituba, the Parris' slave, who entertained them with stories of the supernatural, taught them fortune telling an on one evening was using a crystal ball to determine who their husbands would be. Instead of seeing their husbands, they saw coffins and began having fits, contorted their bodies in many strange positions, began having strange visions and uttered blasphemous phrases. The doctor that saw them was unable to determine a physical cause that would account for their behavior and finally said that the girls had been bewitched. Soon other girls began having the same symptoms. The girls were continually pressured to reveal who had bewitched them and finally named three women of bewitching them: Tituba, the Parris' Caribbean slave; Sarah Good, and Sarah Osborne. All three were outcasts of the community, but for different reasons. Tituba, a slave in the Parris household, was thought to have led the children astray while meeting with some of the children in the community, during the evenings and telling them stories of magic, witchcraft and fortune telling. Sarah Good was a homeless woman who would often go to houses in the community, asking for food. When denied any form of help, she would curse the person. Sarah Osborne was an elderly woman whose husband had died and later remarried to her indentured servant, something that just was not done. She also had not attended church in quite some time. 

The three women were interrogated for several days and Osborne and Good claimed innocence. However, Tituba confessed that she was a witch, went into great detail as to how she obtained her power and what she had done. She named Osborne and Good as aids in bewitching the girls. The three women were imprisoned and mass paranoia soon followed for the next several months, with dozens more people being brought in for questioning. On May 27, 1692, the first to be charge for witchcraft was Bridget Bishop, known in the community as a gossip and a promiscuous woman. She pleaded innocent, but was convicted and was the first person hanged. Nineteen more of the accused would be executed. All would proclaim their innocence. Those that were accused and pleaded guilty were released.

Although the earliest people accused of witchcraft may have had questionable reputations in the Salem community, as the trials progressed people that were pious, of high status and pillars of the community began to be accused and at least some community members began to question the guilt of those that were convicted of witchcraft. The first of the accused witches with an exemplary reputation was 71 year old, Rebecca Nurse. A very pious woman that was well liked in the community. A number of community members spoke out on her behalf, even though doing so would put them in danger of being accused of being witches. Another member of status in the community was George Burroughs, the only Puritan minister who was accused and tried of witchcraft. During his trial he successfully recited the Lord's Prayer, something that was considered impossible for a witch to do. Both were convicted of witchcraft and executed. John Proctor, another member of status in the community, questioned the evidence used to convict the accused of witchcraft. He questioned spectral evidence, in particular, which was used most often, as evidence, during the trials to convict the accused of witchcraft. Spectral evidence was evidence, based on the dreams or visions of an accuser, seeing the accused witch's spirit doing harm to the accuser, even though the accused may have been somewhere else at the time. Others with status in the community were also accused. Accusation against people of such status made the community question the guilt of those accused of witchcraft and finally ended when the wife of the wife of William Phips, the appointed governor of Massachusetts, was accused of witchcraft. Phips put an end to the trials and eventually released all prisoners charged with witchcraft. Once the madness had stopped the colony admitted that people were unjustly imprisoned and executed, and their families and those convicted were compensated. Three hundred years later, the reason for the strange symptoms exhibited by the victims that were thought to be bewitched is still debated. There have been much written on this incident and many hypotheses have been put forth to explain the behavior of the small New England community that year.

Some Hypotheses On What Led to The Salem Witch Trials of 1692

Bewitched were suffering from Convulsive Ergotism (Caporeal, 1976)

While still a graduate student, Linnda Caporael noted the similarity between the symptoms of people that were thought to be bewitched, in Salem, Massachusetts, in the infamous 1692 witch trials and people that were on LSD, a popular recreational drug at the time that Caporael was a graduate student. It was also known by this time that Ergot of Rye was the source from which LSD was synthesized. With further research, Caporael concluded that the young girls' behaviors were due to convulsive ergotism and that during 1691 there was a warm, wet spring followed by a hot stormy summer, conditions ideal for infection of rye by the ergot fungus. Caporael also determined that the homes for the bewitched girls were either on farmland best suited for ergot infection or had an ample supply stored of the the infected grain. While admitting that hard evidence can never be obtained to determine why the "bewitched" girls had exhibited the described behavior, Caporael (1976) believed that the circumstantial evidence that she presented is at least plausible. In her conclusion, she also believed that such symptoms had occurred earlier in Europe as well. This latter hypothesis was later followed up by Mary Matossian (1989) who was able to find similar occurrence in various parts of Europe and similarly demonstrated that the symptoms observed occurred in areas where rye was the main staple and that major outbreaks of the behavior occurred during appropriate climatic conditions.

In looking at the geography of where witch trials occurred in Europe, Matossian found that a large proportion of the trials were concentrated in the alpine regions of France and central Europe where rye was usually grown as the staple. Also, it was in these areas that the best source of "primary" records were kept. In Swabia, in southwestern Germany, they even kept annual records as to the number of trials. Other records such as the price of rye would give an indicator as to how much rye was available in a given year and more contemporary research compiling the widths of annual rings of trees in given localities gave an indication as to approximately what the spring and summer temperature may have been. For example, in years where there were a large number of witch trials, there were usually high rye prices, indicating that it was a poor growing year for rye and people may not be as selective in what they consumed. Trials were also more common during years when the spring and summer months were usually cooler, and even more so if the climate was colder and wetter than the norm. Cooler temperatures would be more favorable for ergot formation on rye and even more Ergot would form if the rainfall was greater.

Convulsive ergotism as the cause of afflicted victims being thought to have been bewitched is the most widely known hypothesis as to the cause of bewitched victims, but is not the only one. 

Bewitched were suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (Norton, 2002)

The Puritans believed that the Native American, Wabanaki Nation, were demons led by Satan and that they were living in the land of Satan and that it was their job to help God conquer this new land. In 1689, a war known as King William's War was in progress, involving France, that took place in America. Colonist in upstate New York were being massacred by the French, in Canada and their allies, the Wabanaki. Many of the displaced colonists took refuge in Salem. The refugees included a number of the "bewitched" victims who saw their families killed at the hands of the Wabanaki. Norton believed that these girls suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and that this accounted for the strange behavior that these girls exhibited. Also, adult survivors blamed colonial leaders for massacres, due to incompetence, corruption and cowardice. Although the early victims that were accused of being witches were women of low status in the community, by April, people of status in the community were being accused and they were also the ones that were blamed for the massacres. George Burroughs was the first. He was the lone survivor of two of the massacres and was thought to have been responsible. Also, one of the bewitched survivors saw his spirit in a dream consorting with the devil. When he was successfully tried and convicted, it made it easier to accuse others that were in power and thought to be in some way responsible for the massacres. Prior to the massacres, the courts would scrupulously follow legal procedures concerning witchcraft. However, because the accused were thought to be responsible for the massacres of the families, of the survivors, rights of the individuals began to be ignored and inadmissible evidence, such as spectral evidence was allowed to convict the accused. Norton compared this to our post 9/11 society.

Dispute between Salem Village and Salem Town (Boyer and Nissenbaum, 1974)

Salem village was a agricultural community with little power, but was trying to become autonomous. To show their autonomy, they hired their own minister, Samuel Parris. Salem Town was a business community, with most of their community living close, but outside of town. They were in power, had money because of their success in business. Salem Village was led by the Puttnam family and Parris, and their followers, while Salem Town was led by the Porter family and their followers. They wanted to merge Salem Village and Salem Town, with them in control of both communities. The Puttnams and Parris exploited the "bewitched" girls to make accusations against the Porters and their supporters of being witches.

Accusers were playing a Game (Franklyn, 1971)

 In Puritan Society, young girls had little status, were powerless to control their lives and most were servants. The girls knowingly put on their strange behavior in order to gain attention. This combined with the adults' conclusion that the girls were acting strangely because they had been bewitched began the problem of the witch trials. The girls were eventually coerced into naming those that were responsible for their behaviors. The girls found that they enjoyed the newly gained authority that they now had over adults. However, they soon began to lose credibility when they began accusing respected people in the community and the trials ended when adults began to realized what they had done.

The Bewitched had contracted Lyme Disease (Drymon, 2008) or Encephalitis lethargica (Carlson, 1999) 

These two hypotheses are not that different from Caporael (1976). Both involved the bewitched individuals coming down with an affliction that is biological in origin. Drymon believed that the neurological symptoms exhibited by the bewitched is due to Lyme Disease, a disease caused by the bacterium, Borrelia burgdorferi, that is transmitted by ticks. The commonly recorded red, bull's eyed, rash found on the bewitched victims resulted from the bite of the tick, when it transmitted the bacterium. Similarly, Carlson believed that symptoms of the bewitched had contracted Encephalitis lethargica, a disease of unknown origin.  Carlson compared the symptoms of 1692 to those of pandemics of Encephalitis lethargica that occurred in 1916 and 1930 and thought them to be the same. 

These are some of the accounts of what is believed to have led to the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. That there will ever be agreement on the cause(s) is debatable. However, in looking over the various hypotheses, it is not necessary that one is entirely wrong or right. Perhaps, the various authors who have generated these various hypotheses can work together and piece them together as with a jig-saw puzzle to come up with a hypothesis that all, or at least, most can agree upon.

20th. Century Outbreaks of Ergotism

Even in the 20th. Century, there have been occasions where outbreaks of ergotism, due to consumption of contaminated rye. Ergotism occurred in 1926-27 in Russia, with 10,000 reported cases (Carefoot and Sprott, 1967; Christensen, 1975), in England in 1927, with 200 cases, among central European Jewish immigrants (Christensen, 1975) and the last known example occurred on August 12, 1951 (Carefoot and Sprott, 1967; Christensen, 1975; Huddler, 1998). On that day, Jean Vieu, a medical doctor in the little town of Pont-St. Esprit, in France, was the first to discover the outbreak while puzzling over two cases of patients who complained of intense pain in the lower abdomen. At first Dr. Vieu believed these cases to be acute appendicitis, but the symptoms that his patience exhibited were not those of this particular ailment. Instead, Some of these symptoms included low body temperatures and cold fingertips. Even stranger were the wild babbling and hallucinations. By August 13th., Dr. Vieu had a third patience with these symptoms. His concern of these patients led him to meet with two other colleagues and together, the three doctors had twenty patients with the symptoms just described.

By August 14th., the town's hospital was now filled with more patients with the same symptoms and 70 homes were required as emergency wards. When possible, victims were tied to their beds, those that escaped were running mad and frantic through the streets. All available strait jackets were rushed to the town to restrain the victims of this sickness. If there were any town's people of Pont-St.-Esprit that were not terrified by this time, they became so when they learned of a demented, eleven year old boy, who had tried to strangle his own mother. Paranoia soon spread throughout the town, rumors soon spread that this wave of dementia was due to a mass poisoning that had been carried out by the local authorities.

Meanwhile, the doctors, were working diligently to discover the cause of this dementia. That this was caused by some sort of food poisoning, they were certain. However, what had all these people consumed? The doctors searched the houses of the afflicted and found only one common food item. All the victims had consumed wheat bread from the same baker. Samples of the bread were taken and sent to Marseilles. When the results from the analysis of the bread samples were completed, tests indicated that it contained approximately twenty alkaloid poisons, and that they had all apparently came from the same source. The origin of the alkaloids was identified as those belonging to the fungus causing ergot of the rye plant.

It would be four more weeks before the whole story concerning the contamination of the bread would unfold. Beyond the Auvergne Mountains, where wheat is grown, an unethical farmer had apparently sold contaminated rye grain to a miller who had mixed it with wheat and grounded it into flower. The miller then shipped the flour to Pont-St.-Esprit, to the baker who was also collaborating with the farmer and miller. It was their greed that was responsible for over two hundred cases of alkaloid poisoning, thirty two cases of insanity and four deaths.

Because of quality control of diseased crops, outbreaks of ergotism was virtually unknown by this time, and because the bread was wheat rather than rye, it took longer to diagnose the food poisoning to be ergot. However, once determined, the contaminated bread and flour were avoided and the problem soon went away, but imagine now if the source of the these symptoms were unknown as was the case before the Middle Ages. 

With such a vivid description of convulsive ergotism that was occurring in Pont St. Esprit, Caporael (1976) could have made a comparison of the behavior of those afflicted in Salem, in 1692, with those in this more recent case of ergotism. However, she apparently was not aware of this event.

 Europe's Population Growth

In the aftermath of the Bubonic Plague, 1/3 to 1/2 of population had died from the disease. That most of the people died of this disease is not questioned, but Matossian(1989) believed that ingestion of grains contaminated with T-2 mycotoxins and Ergot of Rye was the reason for the lack of an immediate recovery in population growth.  Population should have been risen relatively rapid since more food would be available for the survivors and population density had decreased so that contagious disease should be minimized. Based on what appeared to be high mortality/low birth rate being seasonal, Matossian hypothesized that population growth was slowed for dietary reasons. As was the case in demonstrating that witchcraft was based on diet and appeared to be seasonal, high mortality/low birth rate also appeared to be the same. Life expectancy was low, before 1750, even among the British Peerage was 36.7 years and for the common people, it would be less. Diets that probably included T-2 mycotoxin as well as ergotized rye would impair the immune system, leading to shorter life spans and also in reduced fertility. Both would slow the recovery of population growth.

It would not be until after 1750 that the population of Europe would see a rapid increase. The population would double between 1750-1850 and life expectancy increased to 58.4 years. This increase was thought by Matossian to a change in diet from rye to wheat, barley, maize and potato.

Literature Cited

Boyer, P. and S. Nissenbaum. 1974. Salem Possessed: The Socil Origins of Witchcraft. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass.

Carlson, L. W. 1999. A Fever in Salem: A New Interpretation of the New England Witch Trials. Ivan R. Dee, Chicago, IL.

Caporael, L. R. 1976. Ergotism: The Satan Loose in Salem. Science. 192: 21-26.

Carefoot, G.L. and E.R. Sprott. 1967. Famine on the Wind. Rand McNally  & Company. 231 pp.

Cassady, J.M., G.S. Li, E.B. Spitzner, H.G. Floss, and J.A. Clemens. 1974. Ergot alkaloids. Ergolines and related compounds as inhibitors of prolactin release. J. Med. Chem. 17: 300-307.

Christensen, C. M. 1975. Molds, Mushrooms and Mycotoxins. University of Minnesota Press, Minneappolis.

Drymon, M. M. 2008. Disguised as the Devil: How Lyme Disease Created witches and Changed History. Wythe Avenue Press.

Franklyn, J. 1971. Death by Enchantment: An Examination of Ancient and Modern Witchcraft. 

Gabbai, Lisbonne and Pourquier. 1951. Ergot Poisoning at Pont St. Esprit. British Medical Journal. September 15, 1951, pg. 650-651.

Handeland, K. and T. Vikoren. 2005. Presumptive Gangrenous Ergotism in Free-Living Moose and a Roe Deer. Journal of Wildlife Diseases 41: 1-636-642.

Hudler, G. 1998. Magical and Mischievous Molds. Princeton University Press. 248 pp.

Lee, M.R. 2009. The history of ergot of rye (Claviceps purpurea) II: 1900-1940. J.R. Coll. Physicians Edinb. 39: 365-369.

Matossian, M.K. 1989. Poisons of the Past: Molds, Epidemics and History. Yale University Press, New Haven.

Schiff, P. L. 2006. Ergot and Its Alkaloids. American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education. 70 (5): 1-10.

Norton, M. B. 2002. In the Devil's Snare: The Salem Witchcraft Crisis of 1692. Rand House, Inc., New York.

Witten, S. 2009. The Afflicted Girls.Dreamwand, Los Angeles

Mycological Terms

Ergot: A dark purple structure, also called a sclerotium, belonging to the fungus Claviceps purpurea that has replaced the grain in rye plants. The ergot contains several alkaloids (mycotoxins) that are poisonous. However, in correct dosages, they have been used as prescribed medicine.  

Ergotism: Poisoning by ingestion of ergot stage of Claviceps purpurea that contains numerous alkaloids.

Convulsive ergotism: Symptoms of ergotism. Characterized by nervous dysfunction, where the victim is twisting and contorting their body in pain, trembling and shaking, and wryneck, a more or less fixed twisting of the neck, which seems to simulate convulsions or fits. In some cases, this is accompanied by muscle spasms, confusions, delusions and hallucinations.

Ergot of Rye: Disease of rye caused by Claviceps purpurea.

Gangrenous ergotism: Symptom of ergotism characterized by gangrene in extremities, caused by constriction of blood vessels leading to the extremities. Because of the decrease in blood flow, infections occur in the extremities, accompanied by burning pain. Once gangrene has occurred, the fingers, toes, etc. are lost as a result of infection.

Holy Fire: Name first applied to gangrenous ergotism because of the burning sensations in the extremities.

Sclerotium: The overwintering stage of Claviceps purpurea that eventually gives rise to the stroma, in the spring, in which asci and ascospores are borne.

St. Anthony’s Fire: Another name applied to gangrenous ergotism, which replaced holy fire because people suffering from gangrenous ergotism were treated in hospitals dedicated to St. Anthony.

Questions to Think About

1. What is “the ergot” in the ergot of rye disease?

2. What is ergotism?

3.  What category of chemical compounds is found in ergot?

4. What are the two types of ergotism and their symptoms?

5. What pharmaceutical drugs have been created from ergot?

6. Why was “holy fire” renamed “St. Anthony’s fire”?

7.  What are the primary, visible symptoms of St. Anthony’s Fire?

8. What reason did Linnda Caporael give for believing that the people “bewitched” during the Salem Witch Trials of 1692 ingested bread baked rye flour that been infected with ergot of rye disease?

9. During the period of the Salem Witch Trials, how many people were actually found guilty of being witches and executed?

10. What were alternative hypotheses that have been put forth to explain the 1692 Salem Witch Trials?

11. What mid 20th century event that took place could have supported Caporael’s hypothesis, but was not offered as evidence because she was not aware of the event?

12. What alternative hypothesis was given as to what happened to the people of Pont-Saint Esprit?