[CondoleezzaProtege]

I read a book decades ago that said Finland ran out of wheat in WW1. That resulted in many mentally ill people becoming normal, who were then released from mental institutions.

Strange..."there must be something in the water" as the saying goes, or I guess the wheat in this case?!

Fallen though our earth may be, I don't like the idea of dismissing one of God's provisions for mankind's sustenance outright.

[PeterPrinciple]

Strange...”there must be something in the water” as the saying goes, or I guess the wheat in this case?!
Fallen though our earth may be, I don’t like the idea of dismissing one of God’s provisions for mankind’s sustenance outright.

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If I remember history correctly, it was a rye disease. Partial historical facts are dangerous.

It is the ergot stage of the fungus that contains a storehouse of various compounds that have been useful as pharmaceutical drugs as well as mycotoxins that can be fatal when consumed. The proportion of the compounds produced will vary within the species. Thus, the victim that has lived through ergot poisoning once may experience different symptoms if they were unfortunate enough to consume ergot for a second time. This species was also the original source from which LSD was first isolated. It is believed that symptoms of ergotism have been recorded since the middle ages and possibly even as far back as ancient Greece.

http://www.botany.hawaii.edu/faculty/wong/BOT135/LECT12.HTM