GRGR(12) LSD, for good and evil

[John A. McNamara]

> Doug Millison wrote:
>
> But in the same series, TRP includes "blighted 
> grain" . . .  I seem to recall reading that the 
> sort of mass hallucinations that stem from
> "blighted grain" may have lead to some  excesses
> that would probably wouldn't merit "life-affirming".

Wasn't ergotism sometimes mistaken for enchantment, 
resulting in "witch"-burnings . . . ?  Of course, 
that's not a direct effect of ergotism; it's the
way people react to the direct effects.  At any 
rate, ergotism in and of itself seems to be less of 
a blessing than the uncritical, undergraduate 
"whooaa, dude, free trips!" attitude (which nobody 
here seems to share) takes into account:

http://www.pearson-college.uwc.ca/pearson/fungi/ergot.htm

Reading GR, I've never gotten the impression that 
Pynchon was aware of the gangrene and death parts.
If death is a frequent side effect, I can't see 
any villages surviving 500 years without "an un-
hallucinated day".


As for the witch-burnings, somebody mentioned that 
natural hallucinogens may have been used by the 
"old religion" in Europe, which leaves me wondering 
how much of that tradition still survived in folk-
memory when these witch-burnings were happening.  
Obviously, if you throw convulsions and altered 
perceptions at a village of peasants anywhere, at 
any time, they're likely to call it "magic", with 
or without a prior tradition on the subject.  
Still, I like the possibility of pre-Christian folk 
memories surviving like that.  It makes the world 
seem like a slightly more interesting place to live 
in.  No doubt I'd feel differently if I were the 
one being set on fire.


-j

--
John A. McNamara		jmcnamara at datum.com
Senior Software Engineer, Datum E-Business Solutions

"It wasn't long before 'The Toaster with a Brain' had
embarked on an abrupt and harrowing descent into madness."