American scientists have studied locks of composer Ludwig van Beethoven’s hair and put forward new hypotheses about why the composer was deaf. The results of the research were published in the journal “Clinical Chemistry”, writes “The New York Times”.
Scientists from the University of California have discovered a surprisingly large amount of lead in Beethoven’s hair – it is almost a hundred times higher than the norm. The content of arsenic also exceeded the norm 13 times, and mercury – four times.
Researchers assume that these substances could have entered the composer’s body together with the wine.
Ludwig van Beethoven was a prominent German composer who was very ill during his lifetime – he suffered from deafness, stomach problems, kidney disease, pancreatitis and possibly diabetes.
A few years ago, scientists at the Center for Beethoven Studies at the University of San Jose decided to study Beethoven’s hair and try again to find out the reasons for his poor health.
William Meredith, the center’s founder, searched for hair at auctions and museums – eventually he and his colleagues found five locks that really belonged to Beethoven.
Scientists also received two locks of hair from Australian businessman Kevin Brown, who admired Beethoven and wanted to fulfill his wish expressed in 1802 – the composer asked that after his death doctors try to find out why he was so ill.
Kevin Brown sent the samples to the Mayo Clinic lab for heavy metal testing. The results were surprising.
“The results indicate that Beethoven was exposed to high concentrations of lead. These are the highest levels in hair that I have ever seen,” said lab director Paul Gianetto.
The research team points out that the large amount of lead could have caused many of the composer’s ailments – such a high level of this toxic metal is usually associated with hearing loss, gastrointestinal tract and kidney diseases, and high doses of lead also affect the nervous system.
However, the study’s authors argue that lead levels are not high enough to be considered the main cause of Beethoven’s death.
Where did the heavy metals in the composer’s body come from?
One possible source of high lead levels in Beethoven’s body was the cheap wine that the composer often drank. Jerome Nriagu, a lead poisoning expert and professor at the University of Michigan, explained that lead was common in wine, food and medicine used in 19th-century Europe.
Acetate of lead, also called “sugar of lead”, has a sweet taste and was often added to poor quality wine during Beethoven’s lifetime to make it more palatable.
Wine was also fermented in lead-soldered pots, and wine bottle corks were pre-soaked in lead salt to improve their airtightness.
Since Beethoven was known to drink about a bottle of wine a day, he could have received large doses of lead from this drink. However, at the moment it cannot be claimed that the composer was killed by heavy metals, nor do scientists have any evidence that the composer was deliberately poisoned.
However, after careful examination, scientists have realized that Beethoven had enough lead in his body to at least partially explain his deafness and other ailments.
