EDITORIALLY SPEAKING
A n interpretation of historical events based upon chcmical information has been brought to our attention by Professor A. W. Burgstahler of the University of Kansas. This is the thesis that one of the factors (if not the determining factor) in the fall of the Roman Empire was the widespread incidence of lead poisoning in the patrician class. This is not a new suggestion. A paper by S. C. Gilfillan (1215 Ocean Ave., Sauta Monica, Calif.) in the Mankind Quarterly (Edinburgh, Scotland) and in the February 1965Journal of Occupational Medicine indicates that scholars since 1824 have recognized the probability that Romans poisoned themselves quite unknowingly from sources such as wine and water. Hofmann, Kobert, and the latter's student Rosenblatt in Germany about the turn of the century proved both by classical literature citations and analysis of skeletal bones that plumbism was common when Roman civilization was at its height. Gilfillan's interesting thesis is to suggest that there was a class angle to the incidence of the malady. Among the consequences of chronic lead poisoning are sterility, abortions and stillbirths, and sickly or mentally retarded offspring. The conditions of life which led to the intake of massive amounts of lead by the rich and ruling class were not so often the lot of slaves and the poor. The elite died out and with them died the culture which was unknown to the reproductively more virile lower classes. Lead was produced and fabricated into useful articles in great abundance in Roman times. It was easily shaped and welded, in contrast to the difficultly forged iron, and hence was a favored material for pots and cooking utensils. Only the richest could afford copper and bronze articles for the household. Even here, the acidity of some foods produced colored copper salts whose ingestion caused immediate violent sickness. A leaden or lead-lined kettle under similar conditions produced soluble contaminants whose ingestion would not result in immediate symptoms. An ancient writer admonished cooks, "when the lead is worn off, renew it!" The Roman sweet tooth and the desire for bouquet and keeping qualities in wine generally were satisfied by the use of a concentrated grape or honey syrup. For the boiling-down process Pliny directed that "leaden and not bronze pots should be used." (He further
warned that no pebbles should be left in the pot, lest a hole be melted through!) Undoubtedly the microorganisms that would have caused the spoilage were rendered sterile even faster than the humans who thus prescribed their own similar but slower fate. Water pipes commonly were leaden. Their prevalence in the urban homes of the rich naturally exceeded that in the homes of those less well off. The same would have been true of the frescoes and other decorations, often done with pigments containing lead compounds. Even the patrician child, sucking on his leaden toy, was doing himself more harm than his lower class counterpart who was deprived of such enjoyment. Cooking was probably done more by the rich because of the high cost of fuel. Thus might the phenomena of activation energy and temperature coefficient of solubility have been unrecognized safety factors inversely proportional to a family's affluence. Professor Burgstahler comments, "The student of history who doubts the possibility that knowledge of chemistry could have shaped the course of history is in for a shock." True as this is, there is more to this account than a mere device for developing a motivation on the part of history majors to pass Chemistry 101. Whether or not we agree with the questionable thesis that history repeats itself, we must recognize potential lessons to be learned by the informed hindsight of interpretation. The possible parallels to circumstances in modern civilization with its rapidly changing applied technology could be alarmingly bold. (The report of Caltech's Dr. C. C. Patterson on "Contaminated and Natural Lead Environment of Man" in the September 1965 issue of the AMA Archives of Envirmmental Health suggests an even too uncomfortably close parallel.) It was a technological advance when the Greeks learned to make wine taste better and last longer-but obviously the method applied was based on incomplete knowledge. Just so, the future of our modern civilization depends on as complete knowledge as possible. Professor Burgstahler goes on to say, "Scientists and the public have a joint responsibility not to discard the normal and proper procedures for adequate testing and controlled experiments before large scale adoption of new findings is made for technical or social purposes." In classrooms full of future citizens, this theme never can be overemphasized. Volume 42, Number 1 1 , November 1965
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