Mary Kilbourne Matossian's Poisons of the Past, Molds, Epidemics, and History, published by Yale University Press in 1989, proposes ergot poisoning as a contributing cause behind several historical episodes of mass affliction, including the 1692 Salem witchcraft accusations. Its authority rests on standard academic peer review at a major university press and on Matossian's serious engagement with agricultural and climate history. Its limit, and it is a real one, is that historians specializing in the Salem episode have largely rejected the ergotism explanation on documentary grounds, finding the symptom pattern and timeline a poor match for the accusations' actual social and legal record. Cite the book for its serious argument about ergot's broader historical effects, and treat its specific application to Salem as a contested hypothesis most Salem specialists do not accept, not as an established cause.
Facts
Assessment
Reliability Tier3
Mary Kilbourne Matossian's Poisons of the Past, published by Yale University Press in 1989, proposes ergot poisoning as a contributing cause behind the 1692 Salem witchcraft accusations, the lower tier reflecting that historians specializing in the Salem episode have largely rejected the ergotism explanation on documentary grounds, notwithstanding standard academic peer review at a major university press and Matossian's serious engagement with agricultural and climate history. NotesProposes ergotism as a cause behind several historical episodes of mass affliction, including the Salem accusations. Tier 3: an influential hypothesis that historians of Salem have largely rejected on documentary grounds. Cited as a claim about ergot, clearly marked as contested.
Citation
AuthorMary Kilbourne Matossian
PublisherYale University Press
Publication Year1989
Source Typeacademic monograph
Claims Backed By This Source (13 claims)
This source backs 13 claims across the atlas. As facts: 11 well-attested, 1 scholarly debate. Plus 1 entities citing it as a general reference with no single fact or relationship attached.
Disposition By Topic
- Sources, 7 claims: 7 well-attested.
- Plants, 6 claims: 4 well-attested, 1 scholarly debate, 1 general references.
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