>From the article: "Today many suspect the armonica's leaded glass and paint to be the real culprit, perhaps even contributing to Beethoven's likely lead poisoning."
(by the way, there are other stories about the cause for Beethovens death: e.g. venerous disease as syphilis, quite a normal death cause then as is AIDS today.). If lead poisoning contributed to his death also, no wonder, as water tubes in the old Viennese houses were made of low grade lead. And he was exposed to this thread day by day by drinking tap water. One has also to understand, that those who could afford it turned to wine drinking, as the wine then was not contaminated by autobahns near the wineyards. This is by far an absolutely insane assumption or speculation. Beethoven might have tried the glass harmonica or glass harpe once or just a few times out of curiousity. But he did not play it nor practised with it. And exposure to lead must be for quite a long time to affect on the human body. There is no end for silly stories. Example: there was a red light on & a canary bird sitting in his cage, when the old man took medicine the last time & died few hours later. Conclusion (?): Red light together with canary while taking pills, might indicate that this combination might be deadly. Journalists working for mass circulation sensation dailies might produce such myths. Prof.Hans Pizka, Pf.1136 D-85541 Kirchheim - Germany Fax: 49 89 903-9414 Phone: 903-9548 home: www.pizka.de email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] _______________________________________________ post: [EMAIL PROTECTED] set your options at http://music.memphis.edu/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
