Good drugs/Bad drugs?

[Thomas Breed]

From: jburgess at usia.gov
Date: Fri, 29 Sep 95 10:44:04 -0400
To: LARSSON
Subject: Re: Good drugs/Bad drugs?

>According to some interpreters, entire villages would sometimes be 
>overcome by the "natural form" of LSD, leading to events that were seen 
>as absolutely terrifying visions of the Final Judgement.  This syndrome, 
>known as St. {can't remember who}'s Dance,

Isn't it Saint Vitus's?  

>is pretty well documented 
>contemporaneously, though without (obviously) a causative agent.  There's 
>some suggestion that ergot poisoning had a bearing on the Dance of Death 
>(Todentanse) and its depiction in many woodcuts of the period.

There's also some suggestion that ergot poisoning or similiar things may 
have played a role in the witch hunts that marked the 17th Century - 
especially in Central and Northern Europe. 

                             Thomas Breed