Ergot, etc, or Oh Look, I Split a Thread!

[slink]

Wasn't there an All in the Family about botulism?

I don't know, but there was a Dr. Finlay's Casebook about Ergot poisoning that was highly amusing.
Talking of which I saw a very interesting documentary in which some various people opined that the cause of the Salem witch farce was due to Ergot. They checked out the weather stuff for the period, and it showed it was highly damp, which would cause the fungus to grow on grain, and the test that was run to see whether the children were witches, was to soak bread in their urine and feed it to dogs, which then went mad.
Seems like the most likely cause to me, although I don't put it past humans, let alone scary olde presbiterians to just spontaneously decide to burn the odd girl just in case.

[AlohaDawg]

Feed me bread soaked is some kids urine and see how I go mad, too.

Ergot is awesome. They have attributed other 'supernatural' phenomena in Europe, especially Eastern Europe, to Ergot as well. If we just leave rye bread out, damp, will we get ergot? It sounds like it could be cool in small doses.

[AugustWest]

Mmmmm ergot... full of lysegeric goodness.

[AlohaDawg]

OH...so Ergot is sort of like organic LSD? That explains a lot. Like, the werewolf legends are supposed to be attributable to ergot, too.

[V-Adore]

Yeah, ergot is the natural antecedent to LSD. It's implicated in no small amount of the weird happenings of the pre-modern world. It's cool like that, you know?

[pmcd9]

Yeah, ergot is the natural antecedent to LSD. It's implicated in no small amount of the weird happenings of the pre-modern world. It's cool like that, you know?

Last night I saw Danny Devito paying tribute to Michael Douglas and talking about when Michael's father won the same award back in '68.  They couldn't attend because they were "mushroom hunting."  When I heard that the first thought to cross my mind was "ah, those were the days."  Mmmmm, mushrooms.

~Paul

[AlohaDawg]

I thought all you really had to do was find a pasture where some cows were about a week before...

[pmcd9]

I thought all you really had to do was find a pasture where some cows were about a week before...

Most of my knowledge is antecdotal, but what I was led to believe is that the said cows must eat grain that contains the spores.  That goes along with the whole ergot-grain-burning witches thing.  I didn't get burned at the stake, but I did have to spend a night in jail.

~Paul

[slink]

OH...so Ergot is sort of like organic LSD? That explains a lot. Like, the werewolf legends are supposed to be attributable to ergot, too.

One of Ergot's alkaloids is the component of organically derived LSD. And in fact was what Hoffman first got LSD from.
However, Ergotine is highly poisonous. Also, no you wouldn't get Ergot from damp bread, it has to form on the grain or the flour, but once cooked the fungus will be killed off. Also you're more likely to develop Ergot in wheat or barley.

The Ergot Alkaloids; A. Stoll and A. Hofmann (THE);
Chapter 21, The Alkaloids, Manske (ed. ?) vol. VIII, pgs 725-779+.
Describes lots and lots and lots of chemical detail regarding
everything from biogenesis to complete chemical synthesis as a means
of confirming structure. Also has a section completely devoted to
"Derivatives of Ergot Alkaloids" in which the following processes
for synthesizing amides are discussed:
      => The azide process.
      => DMF-SO3 mixed anhydride method.
      => mixed Lysergic acid trifluoroacetic anhydride.
      => Lysergic acid chloride hydrochloride method.
      => N,N'- carbonyldiimidazole as condensing agent

Needless to say, yes I'm now clinically insane, and I did a lot of research into it.

As far as mushrooms go, as long as we're talking psylocybin and not anything more interesting, sheep do perfectly well too. As long as the spores are around they don't need to have passed through the animal. The grazing is mostly to keep the grass at a good length. You then want fairly warm weather, but with some good rain, in about September/October. Of course I'm talking UK here, and since foot and mouth we haven't had a good mushroom season.

Also, thought this was fascinating - http://www.cowboybooks.com.au/html/acidtrip1.html
A set of illustration by an artist at various intervals after having a controlled dose of LSD. Not only are some of the drawings (6, 7 and absolutely stunning, but the information regarding the guy's activities while tripping were hysterical (possibly only due to experience, much the same way as I find Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas absolutely hysterical).

[pmcd9]

I once made a very nice stir fry using psylicybin mushrooms with beef, brocoli and onions.  Served it over french fries and washed it down with beer.  It was very good.

~Paul

[slink]

I once made a very nice stir fry using psylicybin mushrooms with beef, brocoli and onions.  Served it over french fries and washed it down with beer.  It was very good.

~Paul

I discovered that mushroom tea flavoured with Whittard's christmas tea (earl grey, with peel, cloves and cinnamon) is remarkably tasty. As opposed to all my friends who put fresh OJ in it. I preferred normal mushroom tea to that. But then I liked the taste of mushroom tea.
Had a very nice Spaghetti Bolognese with psylocybin in.

[Asherdan]

I always found a Carl's Jr. Western Bacon Cheesburger to be a pretty good delivery system for the purple stemmed darlin's.

Of course, this was at a time and place (university) in which it was perfectly acceptable to drink that Franzia wine in a box just so we'd have the shiny bag to watch do tricks after gnawin' up some of those special little paper squares.

Geeze, reading the above makes me ever more certain I have negative class.  The proof is that I still posted this...

[pmcd9]

I always found a Carl's Jr. Western Bacon Cheesburger to be a pretty good delivery system for the purple stemmed darlin's.

My friends all liked to make this vile Kool-Aide drink.  But those guys wouldn't have eaten a mushroom any way it were prepared if it were not for the payoff.  I (and one other friend), on the other hand, loved mushrooms, and so the thought crossed my mind, I wonder if these guys are as good as the ones they serve at the Steak House.  Turns out they are ever bit as good.  Too good actually because I really wanted a second helping.  Fortunately my friends (the Kool-Aide drinkers) convinced me that wasn't such a good idea as they were already tripping hard and fast approaching Nirvana (and this was in the 80's).  Anyway, I enjoyed the leftovers the following day.

These 'shrooms were so killer they made Billy Idol sound awesome.

~Paul

[andalucia]

Yeah, no matter how big of a music geek I may be, I still can't enjoy Jimi Hendrix without some help from my pal psilocybin.  (Apparently it helps whe you can "see" the music.)

[AugustWest]

Yeah, no matter how big of a music geek I may be, I still can't enjoy Jimi Hendrix without some help from my pal psilocybin.  (Apparently it helps whe you can "see" the music.)

Now that's just sad.