Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Biblical Text-Writing May Have Poisoned Monks
Discovery News ^ | 6-27-2008 | Jennifer Viegas

Posted on 06/27/2008 3:48:57 PM PDT by blam

Biblical Text-Writing May Have Poisoned Monks

Jennifer Viegas, Discovery News

Damaged Skull

June 27, 2008 -- Medieval bones from six different Danish cemeteries reveal that monks who wrote Biblical texts and other religious materials may have been exposed to toxic mercury, which was used to formulate just one of their ink colors: red.

The study, which will be published in the August issue of the Journal of Archaeological Science, also describes a previously undocumented disease, called FOS, which was like leprosy and caused skull lesions. Additionally, the researchers found that mercury-containing medicine had been administered to 79 percent of the interred individuals with leprosy and 35 percent with syphilis.

Since the monks, who were buried in the cloister walk of the Cistercian Abbey at Øm, did not have these diseases but contained mercury in their bones, scientists believe the monks were either contaminated while preparing and administering medicines, or while writing the artistic letters of incunabula, or pre-1500 A.D. books.

Kaare Lund Rasmussen, a University of Southern Denmark scientist at the Institute of Physics and Chemistry, suspects that ink used in the abbey's scriptorium was the culprit.

He told Discovery News "it is very human to lick the brush, if one wants to make a fine line."

Even today "one should really not touch, or much less rub, the parchment pages of an incunabulum," Lund Rasmussen said, adding that mercury "was used in the first place because cinnabar (a type of mercury) has this bright red, beautiful color."

It is also known that metallic liquid mercury was given in vapor form to diseased patients. So if the monks "were just a little careless, they would be exposed this way, however, they might also be exposed during the preparation of the medicine."

For the study, Lund Rasmussen and his team drilled bone samples from the buried individuals, some of which were also friars buried in the cloister walk of the Franciscan Friary in Svendborg. Unlike the Øm monks, the friars showed no signs of mercury poisoning. Co-author Jesper Lier Boldsen discovered the previously undocumented disease FOS while examining the skeletons.

"We do not know if FOS was fatal, but it certainly looks painful and just as severe as leprosy," Lund Rasmussen said.

While working on the study, the researchers also noted that, due to different carbon signatures, some of the medieval individuals ate a mostly marine, fish-filled diet. Lund Rasmussen suggests that the others may have "preferred beer and meat, rather than fish and water." The Cistercians were, in principal, not allowed to eat meat from any four-footed animals, but the Franciscans do not appear to have always observed this practice.

Although modern seafood may now contain high levels of mercury from environmental pollution, exposure from food would have been unlikely during the medieval period.

Other religious groups may have experienced mercury poisoning due to scripting holy texts. In a separate study, scientists from the Soreq Nuclear Research Center in Israel and the Israel Museum found cinnabar on four fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls, which include passages from the Hebrew Bible.

University of Southern Denmark historian Kurt Villads Jensen, who did not work on the latest Danish study, told Discovery News that he believes the medieval mercury findings seem "very convincing" and that he has "absolutely no objections to the historical part of the paper, which is my main research area."

Lund Rasmussen and his team radiocarbon dated some of the studied bones, but they hope to do this for even more individuals from the test sample group, as this could reveal additional information about the possible link between mercury exposure and red ink use. By 1536, books were no longer written by hand, but were instead printed, so the scientists suspect the toxic red ink literally faded from the monastic picture.


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: biblical; godsgravesglyphs; mercury; monks; poison
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-42 next last
To: blam; SunkenCiv

The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco, available at Amazon

http://www.amazon.com/Name-Rose-Everymans-Library-Cloth/dp/0307264890/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1214636537&sr=1-1

An excellent murder mystery set in a medieval abbey. Beautifully written. One of my favorites.


21 posted on 06/28/2008 12:07:25 AM PDT by Cincinna
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Salvation; narses; SMEDLEYBUTLER; redhead; Notwithstanding; nickcarraway; Romulus; ...
Catholic Ping List
Please freepmail me if you want on/off this list


22 posted on 06/28/2008 3:43:29 AM PDT by NYer ("Ignorance of scripture is ignorance of Christ." - St. Jerome)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: gorush
Nah, GW died from strep throat, basically.

It was an acute pharyngeal infection. Mercury had zilch to do with it.

EVERYBODY with a fever got calomel (mercurous chloride) because it made you salivate and sweat. The old-fashioned doctors that attended GW were trying to get the "humours" out of his body. A younger physician in attendance tried to suggest a tracheotomy (iirc), but was overruled.

He probably would have died anyway because of the massive infection and lack of antibiotics.

23 posted on 06/28/2008 5:03:39 AM PDT by AnAmericanMother (Ministrix of Ye Chase, TTGC Ladies' Auxiliary (recess appointment))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Cincinna
It is a good book, though awfully dense. I was a very serious Sherlock Holmes fan back in the day, and it's amusing to see all the little Sherlockian references tucked in here and there.

I wish I had a dollar for everybody who bought it because it was a best-seller, then read 5 pages and parked it on the coffee table . . . very worthwhile but not an easy read.

24 posted on 06/28/2008 5:05:08 AM PDT by AnAmericanMother (Ministrix of Ye Chase, TTGC Ladies' Auxiliary (recess appointment))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 21 | View Replies]

To: blam
Neat story.

Leprosy has been around a long time. I wonder if this is just a variant form.

Wonder how much mercury you have to be carrying around before you are symptomatic?

25 posted on 06/28/2008 5:07:27 AM PDT by AnAmericanMother (Ministrix of Ye Chase, TTGC Ladies' Auxiliary (recess appointment))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: blam

incunabulum: interesting word. it may be mis-used in this context since it appears to only refer to printed, not handwritten documents:

incunabulum is a book, single sheet, or image that was printed — not handwritten — before the year 1501 in Europe.


26 posted on 06/28/2008 5:36:27 AM PDT by beebuster2000
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: The KG9 Kid

Great historical murder mystery “name of the rose” set in a monastery in the Middle Ages.

Movie had Sean Connery as the churchman/detective who solves the case.


27 posted on 06/28/2008 7:20:36 AM PDT by wildbill ( FR---changing history by erasing it from memory.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: The KG9 Kid
Where did you get the DVD? I've wanted it for a long time, but it's a German locale encoding.

Netflix has it but, as yours, it is in German with English subtitles. I plugged the title in eBay and got a number of hits that show DVDs in English, so if you're not in eBay, you ought to be able to find them at other sellers.

BTW, appreciated the subtle clue in your original post.

And, the article is another example of life imitating art even the the art came later.

28 posted on 06/28/2008 7:40:24 AM PDT by Oatka (A society of sheep must in time beget a government of wolves." –Bertrand de Jouvenel)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]

To: blam

Sucks to be a rubicator.


29 posted on 06/28/2008 8:20:14 AM PDT by null and void (every Muslim, the minute he can differentiate, carries hate of Americans, Jews & Christians - OBL)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: The KG9 Kid; All; y'all; no one in particular
Didn’t I read an Umberto Eco novel about this years ago?

Close. Name of the Rose.

Won't spoil it for those who haven't yet read it.

I highly recommend reading (or listening) to it to anyone who hasn't done so yet.

30 posted on 06/28/2008 8:24:26 AM PDT by null and void (every Muslim, the minute he can differentiate, carries hate of Americans, Jews & Christians - OBL)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: tickmeister
How come I ain’t dead?

What makes you sure you aren't?

Look at the candidates and tell me you aren't in Hell...

31 posted on 06/28/2008 8:26:13 AM PDT by null and void (every Muslim, the minute he can differentiate, carries hate of Americans, Jews & Christians - OBL)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: tet68

Wow.

You are a god!


32 posted on 06/28/2008 8:27:24 AM PDT by null and void (every Muslim, the minute he can differentiate, carries hate of Americans, Jews & Christians - OBL)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: AnAmericanMother

I am neither a doctor nor have I played one since I was 3 or 4. I got my information from Thomas Hager’s “Demon Under the Microscope”. He has a master’s degree in medical microbiology and immunology. He stated in the book that GW was treated with massive doses of Mercury and that it may have been responsible for worsening his condition, but you may be right.


33 posted on 06/28/2008 9:51:33 AM PDT by gorush (Exterminate the Moops!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 23 | View Replies]

To: vietvet67

LOL


34 posted on 06/28/2008 9:56:36 AM PDT by wideminded
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: blam

Powdered cinnabar

35 posted on 06/28/2008 10:00:07 AM PDT by wideminded
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: AnAmericanMother
The blood letting didn't help GW much either.
36 posted on 06/28/2008 10:04:34 AM PDT by 4yearlurker ("Put Watts into 'em! Give 'em Watts boys!" -Rev. James Caldwell-1775. A Patriot.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 23 | View Replies]

To: ninonitti
But did it cause an erection that lasted for more than 4 hours?

I don't know the answer to that one, but my guess is that if it did, one might be able to use it as a thermometer. :-D

37 posted on 06/28/2008 10:53:54 AM PDT by P H Lewis (One of the fundamentals of democracy is knowing where to place your machine gun. - Foggy)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: gorush
I'm not a doctor OR a microbiologist, but my undergraduate degree was in history and I wrote my thesis on the American Civil War. So I come at it from the historical angle -- and medicine unfortunately didn't improve very much from GW's time to the Civil War.

The mercury was SOP in those days. Calomel was the usual vehicle, and if that killed you quick, everybody would have been dead, because people took it like aspirin. I have my gg grandfather's Civil War letters, he took the stuff all the time. If you OD'd on it, it could loosen your teeth, and eventually you'd get hand tremors.

In other words, I'm sure it didn't do you any good over the long haul, but it didn't kill you quick. GW got sick and was dead in less than three days, iirc he caught cold riding in a cold rain.

38 posted on 06/28/2008 11:34:05 AM PDT by AnAmericanMother (Ministrix of Ye Chase, TTGC Ladies' Auxiliary (recess appointment))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 33 | View Replies]

To: 4yearlurker
Bloodletting is not entirely the mumbo-jumbo it's made out to be, it has value in certain cases.

But drawing half the blood volume of an elderly man was NOT a good idea (even by the standards of the time)! GW was a strong believer in bloodletting and urged his physicians to remove more blood (sometimes it's the doctor's responsibility to ignore his patient). It certainly made him weaker, but the acute pharyngitis is probably still what killed him.

39 posted on 06/28/2008 11:40:30 AM PDT by AnAmericanMother (Ministrix of Ye Chase, TTGC Ladies' Auxiliary (recess appointment))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 36 | View Replies]

To: null and void

Oh very good.

Sucks to be a rubicator.

I heard there was going to be a rubicator convention,
but decided to cross the Rubi-Con later.

It bites to be a masticating ruminant.


40 posted on 06/28/2008 11:44:17 AM PDT by tet68 ( " We would not die in that man's company, that fears his fellowship to die with us...." Henry V.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 29 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-42 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson