By Dan Holbrook

One cause was the potato blightPhytophthora infestansWater moldCan also affect tomatoes

Summer of 1845 Damp and Chilly Continued on after 1845 Over three million people dependant on potato crop

1845 forty percent of crop destroyed1846 ninety percent One million deaths One million leave Population of Ireland at the time was eight million

Ergot poisoning Grows on rye and other similar plants Causes LCD symptomsSymptoms match those affected

Linnda Caporael Journals tell of warm rainy summer Those affected live near swamps Land records show affected owned large fields

Muscle Contractions Affects central nervous system Causes hallucinations LSD derived from ergot

Penicillium sp. Fungus Alexander Fleming 1928 Accident

Widely used antibiotics (WWII) End of disease? Over 200 trillion units used by 1950 Resistant strains Help for future use Still used today

"Ergot Poisoning (LSD) - the Cause of the Salem Witch Trials - PBS Secrets of the Dead." Hiawatha Broadband

Communications, Inc. | Office Numbers: Winona 507.474.4000 • St. Charles 507.932.8000 • Wabasha 651.560.4000 • Toll Free 888.474.9995. Web. 27 Oct.

2010. <http://www.hbci.com/~wenonah/history/ergot.htm>.

Henahan, By Sean. "GREAT FAMINE." Access Excellence @ the National Health Museum. Web. 27 Oct. 2010.

<http://www.accessexcellence.org/WN/SUA03/great_famine.php>.

Money, Nicholas P. Triumph of the Fungi: A Rotten History. New York: Oxford UP, 2006.

Saeed, Sheikh Arshad. "Penicillin." Penicillin. Web. 27 Oct. 2010.

<http://www.dawn.com/weekly/science/archive/051112/science6.htm>.

Wainwright, M. "Penicillin: Triumph and Tragedy." Social History of Medicine 20.3 (2007): 615-17.