At 08:25 PM 12/21/98 -0500, someone wrote: >There are a lot of links at > >http://www.msstate.edu/Archives/USA/colonial/witch.html > >Hope these help. still can't find info about the rye grain. > >Sandy Schroeder > I believe the "rye grain" item you are looking for is ERGOT: "Ergot, name used interchangeably for a disease of rye, for the fungus causing the disease, for the sclerotium (compact hardened mycelium, or fruiting surface) of the fungus, and for the dried sclerotium, which contains certain valuable drugs. Ergot fungi are molds (see Fungi: Classification) that infect rye and other cereals and wild grasses. . . ." "Ergotism, a disease of humans and animals, is caused by excessive intake of ergot: in humans, either by the overuse of the drug or by eating breadstuffs made with infected flour, and in cattle, by the eating of ergot-infected grain and grass. Acute and chronic ergotism are characterized by mental disorientation, muscle cramps, convulsions, and dry gangrene of the extremities. One of the psychoactive drugs, LSD (see Lysergic Acid Diethylamide) is chemically related to the ergot alkaloids." "Ergot," Microsoft® Encarta® Encyclopedia 99. © 1993-1998 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Personally, I have subscribed more to a theory that the witchcraft mess was the result of people taking advantage of a few impressionable girls to further their vendettas against neighbors, than the idea that the madness was caused by an external agent. But I hope this helps anyway. Darrell Darrell A. Martin Formerly of Springfield, Vermont Currently in Exile in Addison, Illinois [email protected]