Date: 11-16-00
SCIENCE REPORT - Beethoven and Lead
By Caty WeaverThis is the VOA Special English Science Report.
Scientists near Chicago, Illinois, say the great German music composer, Ludwig van Beethoven, may have suffered from lead poisoning. They say this may have caused Beethoven's many sicknesses. The scientists say high levels of lead also may have caused Beethoven to act in unusual ways. He died in Eighteen-Twenty-Seven at age fifty-six in Vienna, Austria.
The scientists tested pieces of Beethoven's hair. They used equipment that creates the most detailed X-rays possible. They were searching for evidence of mercury. Mercury was commonly used to treat the disease syphilis. No mercury was found in Beethoven's hair, however. This supports the belief of most historians that Beethoven did not have syphilis.
However, the scientists did find lead in Beethoven's hair. The levels of lead were more than one-hundred times higher than levels found in most people today. Scientists say this much lead could easily have caused the stomach pains Beethoven suffered for more than thirty years. Lead is also linked to the mental sickness of depression. And, high amounts of lead can cause people to become unreasonably and easily angry. It is believed Beethoven experienced these conditions.
The director of the Beethoven Project is William Walsh. He is the chief scientist of the Health Research Institute in Naperville, Illinois. He says the lead finding was a surprise. He also says he does not think lead caused Beethoven's other major health problem, deafness.
Beethoven began to lose the ability to hear at age thirty-one. Ten years later, he was almost completely deaf. Mr. Walsh says lead poisoning rarely causes deafness. But he says scientists will continue to study the possibility.
Mr. Walsh also says his researchers are not trying to learn how Beethoven became poisoned by lead. He says historians can research that.
Lead was produced in great amounts in Europe during Beethoven's lifetime. Historians say Beethoven visited health centers called spas. At the spas, he drank and swam in mineral water that could have contained lead. Mr. Walsh says the lead also may have come from the wine that Beethoven drank. Experts say lead has been found in the wine containers that Beethoven used.
This VOA Special English Science Report was written by Caty Weaver.
Source: www.voa.gov/special/