Ergot was reasons for religious practices (was Re: penile cancer)

[Guest guest]

I saw the same program C4 I think.

IIRC the mould was ergot - when it reaches critical mass (so to speak) it brings

on hallucinations and eventually death and over the centuries has been

responsible for all sorts of mass insane events. One theory for the Marie

Celeste was that the crew had ergotisum (sp?) and threw themselves overboard.

The mould develops in warm dampth which is one of the reasons farmers dry their

grain.

When I was a catering student I did a couple of major papers on 1) Jewish Food

Lores and their reasons and 2) all forms of food poisoning - I was really

pleased with that one

Caroline

Jersey

> >> Well, no, it was definitely mold and mildew. Apparently, the

> > scientists had narrowed down the passover part of it (ie killing the

> > first born son of the Egyptians) to a couple of things, one of which

> > was that Egyptian tradition was to feed the firstborn son as much as

> > he wanted and only then allow the other children to eat. So as the

> > other plagues has already happened and the crop had been mostly

> > destroyed by hail, then locusts, so it was probably brought in too

> > early and a bit damp, it would have started developing mold. Some

> > sorts of mold are toxic if consumed in large amounts, therefore the

> > Egyptian sons died, while the Jews were sharing their meagre

> portions

> > equally<<

>

> I saw a similar program where it said that the crop was kept in a

> separate building and it was the job of the eldest son to collect it

> and bring it to the home. It said that it had become toxic and when

> he was collecting it he breathed toxins in before bringing it home to

> the family and this was the reason the firstborn in each family died.

> It also gave explanations for all the other plagues of Egypt but it

> was on some time ago and I can't remember what it was.

>

> Lorraine

> Mum to 10, Natasha 8, 5, ph 3