SAS 30 Lecture Notes - Lecture 14: Timothy Leary, Aldous Huxley, Salem, Massachusetts
Document Summary
Disease of plants -- ergotism is the name for when you eat an ergot-infected grain. Vasoconstriction -- reduced blood flow causes gangrene. Formication -- sensation of ants crawling under skin. Refused to stand trial in order to preserve his property (if you aren"t tried you can"t be convicted and the state cannot take away your land) Crushed to death -- put a board on top of him and kept piling rocks on until he died. Symptoms people were experiencing during the salem witch trials is very similar to ergotism. Rye was a staple crop at this time . Weather in 1961 was conducive to ergot infection in the rye -- cold and. Some ergots fall to the ground during harvest wet. Attach to rye flowers and germinate and infect the rye"s ovary. But infected ovaries develop into an ergot instead of grain.
