a new analysis of Beethoven's skull fragments reveals LONG-TERM lead poisoning

[sjwenger]

From Yahoo News:

Lead poisoning could explain dour Beethoven: study By Matt Brown
Thu Nov 17, 6:58 PM

SAN JOSE, California (Reuters) - An analysis of skull fragments from German composer Ludwig van Beethoven confirms he suffered from lead poisoning for many years, a possible cause for his dour demeanor, researchers said on Thursday.

"Beethoven had hoped that some day it would be revealed why he acted the way he did," said Paul Kaufmann, the owner of the skull fragments who loaned them to the Center for Beethoven Studies in San Jose, California.

"He was seen as angry and uncooperative at times. This finding helps shed some light on that," he said. "Now we know that this was the reason for his suffering."

Lead poisoning can lead to headaches, fatigue, concentration problems and other health issues.

Analysis in the late 1990s from a lock of Beethoven's hair indicated that he had lead poisoning at the time of his death, but the latest skull analysis revealed that the condition existed over a long period of time.

"You can't draw any conclusions from the hair sample. This is a more significant finding," Beethoven scholar and biographer Maynard Solomon, who is not involved in the skull testing, said in a telephone interview.

DNA tests confirmed that the hair and skull fragments did indeed come from the composer whose Fifth Symphony starts with perhaps the best-known four-note motif in music history.

Scholars still do not know how Beethoven got lead poisoning, but William Meredith, director of the center, theorized that it was from lead pipes used to carry drinking water in Beethoven's time.

Some historians believe lead poisoning could have caused Beethoven's dramatic hearing loss as he grew older, but researchers on Thursday said they had not yet uncovered any evidence of a link between the two conditions.

The skull fragments were originally taken during an autopsy of Beethoven's corpse in 1863 and were passed down through four generations. Kaufmann, of Danville, California, obtained the two 2.75-inch (7-centimeter) pieces from his grandmother, who died in France in 1993.

The Center for Beethoven Studies, which says it is the only such institution in North America, is not displaying the fragments. "We're dealing with human remains. Some people and some cultures could be offended," said Noam Cook, an ethicist at the center.

Beethoven died in 1827 from liver disease.

[Droell]

Originally posted by sjwenger:
From Yahoo News:

Lead poisoning could explain dour Beethoven: study By Matt Brown
Thu Nov 17, 6:58 PM

SAN JOSE, California (Reuters) - An analysis of skull fragments from German composer Ludwig van Beethoven confirms he suffered from lead poisoning for many years, a possible cause for his dour demeanor, researchers said on Thursday.
....
Beethoven died in 1827 from liver disease.

I'm skeptical of lead from water pipes. Beethoven never stayed long at one address, so if it were the pipes, all of Vienna would have been so poisoned & this would be a generally known fact about the era.

Another possibility is lead in medicines administered to Beethoven. As it happens, I am a student of 17th century medicine & so cannot easily dismiss that of Beethoven's day as quackery (any more than there are still many quacks now, and yes, I do mean the med school product). It is possible that some doctors used some medicines that had some lead in them. On the other hand, there would, of course, be doctors who would not, simply from principle. Beethoven wandered from doctor to doctor & never seemed to have found one to his liking, so, it seems to me, the iatrogenic excuse is lacking. I love big words. I found that one years ago in an essay by Ivan Illich.

The only other source I can think of is crockery. Back when I did ceramics, we were told to distinguish between lead-based glazes & non-lead based. We were told that all properly glazed ceramics were safe to eat & drink from, but if the lead-based stuff were chipped or cracked, then there was danger of lead poisoning. The real danger was that until dirt got into the cracks, stained them & made them visible, one could unwittingly poison oneself with his own mug. Additionally, there are glazes that, accidentally or deliberately, cool to a slightly different size than the clay they are applied to, and so shatter into thousands of tiny pieces. When done deliberately, this is known as "crazing". Ink is then applied to bring out the pattern, which otherwise can be nearly invisible to casual inspection.

When I think of the story of Schindler wearing one of B's threadbare robes, of papers tossed casually, of wrecked pianos, I get the impression Beethoven was none too careful with his household affairs. And though we've all been told not to eat from chipped or cracked earthenware, how many of us follow this healthy advice? I confess that I don't. When were lead-free, "safe" glazes invented, I wonder? Anybody know?

[Hofrat]

Originally posted by Droell:
The only other source I can think of is crockery. Back when I did ceramics, we were told to distinguish between lead-based glazes & non-lead based. We were told that all properly glazed ceramics were safe to eat & drink from, but if the lead-based stuff were chipped or cracked, then there was danger of lead poisoning. The real danger was that until dirt got into the cracks, stained them & made them visible, one could unwittingly poison oneself with his own mug. Additionally, there are glazes that, accidentally or deliberately, cool to a slightly different size than the clay they are applied to, and so shatter into thousands of tiny pieces. When done deliberately, this is known as "crazing". Ink is then applied to bring out the pattern, which otherwise can be nearly invisible to casual inspection.

When I think of the story of Schindler wearing one of B's threadbare robes, of papers tossed casually, of wrecked pianos, I get the impression Beethoven was none too careful with his household affairs. And though we've all been told not to eat from chipped or cracked earthenware, how many of us follow this healthy advice? I confess that I don't. When were lead-free, "safe" glazes invented, I wonder? Anybody know?

Dear Droell;

Beethoven was not the only person using glazed dishes. There were at least another 200,000 Viennese using them at that time.


Hofrat

[Luis Mariano]

Not only that. Lead was a very used substance (of course in samll quantities) to eliminate the high bitterness of the wine at that time.

[Hofrat]

Originally posted by Luis Mariano:
Not only that. Lead was a very used substance (of course in samll quantities) to eliminate the high bitterness of the wine at that time.

Dear Luis;

Yes, that was called "plumbing" the wine. But in Beethoven's day, they stopped "plumbing" because of the harmful effects it had.


Hofrat

[Droell]

Originally posted by Hofrat:
Dear Droell;

Beethoven was not the only person using glazed dishes. There were at least another 200,000 Viennese using them at that time.


Hofrat

Glazed earthenware goes back millennia. The question is, was B more careless of his use of them than the average Viennese citizen. Also, there may be foods that leech out lead. (Cooks are constantly told to avoid cooking acidic foods in certain types of pots.) If crockery is a possible cause, it may also trace back to one or more of the taverns Beethoven frequented. The question might be anwered if in any of the museums or private collections are any of Beethoven's own plates & mugs.

[Peter]

Originally posted by Droell:

Glazed earthenware goes back millennia. The question is, was B more careless of his use of them than the average Viennese citizen. Also, there may be foods that leech out lead. (Cooks are constantly told to avoid cooking acidic foods in certain types of pots.) If crockery is a possible cause, it may also trace back to one or more of the taverns Beethoven frequented. The question might be anwered if in any of the museums or private collections are any of Beethoven's own plates & mugs.

Thanks Droell for your very interesting posts on this. Regarding Beethoven's crockery on his death he possessed 14 china plates, 1 tin cup, several glasses and bowls, earthenware, iron pots and pans - how long these had been in his possession when considering his frequent moves is anyone's guess. Other theories have also included his frequent use of Spa waters, common to many.

I'm not surprised at the findings regarding the lead levels but nor would I be surprised to discover this was quite common in Vienna at that time - I doubt that comparative studies are feasable to determine whether this was unique to Beethoven.

I think there are many factors involved in Beethoven's medical condition that it would be impossible now to single out just one as being responsible for all his woes.

------------------
'Man know thyself'

[Droell]

Originally posted by Peter:


I'm not surprised at the findings regarding the lead levels but nor would I be surprised to discover this was quite common in Vienna at that time - I doubt that comparative studies are feasable to determine whether this was unique to Beethoven.

Precisely the problem. There is the aristocracy who would at least some of the time eat on fine china & glassware, with their own private chefs. These people we know about, we could exhume any number of them & check them for lead poisoning if we like.

The general populace we don't know so much about, if only because their old bones have likely been jumbled into a mess. To establish a baseline of how much lead there may have been, we need the remains of people who flourished in Vienna in the first three decades of the 19th century and, if possible, frequented the same taverns that Beethoven did. My hunch is that while B may have moved a lot, he was likely to have dined in the same spots year in & year out. Which makes those kitchens of interest.

Beethoven died of liver failure (so it's been said) & while we think of that as too much booze, the liver, in fact, filters & stores toxic materials of all kinds. So it's possible that lead in the bones meant extra pressure on the liver (the largest organ in the body), which amounts to a ticking time bomb.

It's also possible that B's bone lead accumulation started all the way back in Bonn. Testing the bones of his immediate family (parents, brothers) might give more clues. After age 20, Beethoven had little contact with them.

At a time when few lived to be 60, Beethoven's condition, so far as commoners go, may well not have been uncommon. I am nearly 54 years old & for the past several years have been studying the music & life of Ferdinand Ries. It is sobering to realize that I am now six months older than he, and that his cause of death is unknown.

[Ludwig]

Did you saw the pictures from these parts of skull? http://www2.sjsu.edu/depts/beethoven/skull/skullbones.html
There is even a picture of Beethoven's skull.I feel a bit strange while looking on it...


[This message has been edited by Ludwig (edited 11-20-2005).]