It was supposed to kill an unhallowed
child and cure a hallowed one. In the Hebrides, likewise, there
were many cases of similar poisoning.
Epidemics of ergotism have been recorded from time to time since
the days of Galen, and were due to poverty, wretchedness, and
famine, resulting in the feeding upon ergotized bread. According
to Wood, gangrenous ergotism, or "Ignis Sacer" of the Middle
Ages, killed 40,000 persons in Southwestern France in 922 A. D.,
and in 1128-29, in Paris alone, 14,000 persons perished from this
malady. It is described as commencing with itchings and
formications in the feet, severe pain in the back, contractions
in the muscles, nausea, giddiness, apathy, with abortion in
pregnant women, in suckling women drying of milk, and in maidens
with amenorrhea. After some time, deep, heavy aching in the
limbs, intense feeling of coldness, with real coldness of the
surfaces, profound apathy, and a sense of utter weariness
develop; then a dark spot appears on the nose or one of the
extremities, all sensibility is lost in the affected part, the
skin assumes a livid red hue, and adynamic symptoms in severe
cases deepen as the gangrene spreads, until finally death ensues.
Very generally the appetite and digestion are preserved to the
last, and not rarely there is a most ferocious hunger.
Pages:
974
975
976
977
978
979
980
981
982
983
984
985
986
987
988
989
990
991
992
993
994
995
996
997
998