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The day of St Anthony's Fire

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This is an extensive analysis by a journalist of the outbreak of ergot poisoning in Pont St.Esprit, France (Provence) in 1951. It is based on personal interviews and documents, as well as on discussions with the doctors involved. It is perhaps the most complete case study of mass ergot poisoning in literature. It is very valuable to any historian wishing to understand one of the most feared and puzzling diseases of the Middle Ages.

This book caught my eye in the college library while I was researching the topic. I didn't put it down for the two days it took me to read it. It covers not only "historical ergotism" (which has been deemed the culprit of the Salem Witch trials and other witch hunts by some) but also the case of the 1950's Pt. St. Esprit poisoning in France, which was attributed by the local authorities to a mercury pesticide. Read it, be absolutely amazed, not only at the events, but at the "official judgement" and subsequent injustice of the later rulings towards the poisoned survivors of that fateful night. I also recommend Mary Matossion's Poisons of the Past for more info on historical ergotism.

This is an amazing book. The historical account is fascinating. I am also floored by how well Fuller wove in a multitude of personal stories, gave a rich account of a very complex incident, then beautifully encapsulated the 15-year legal tragedy that followed the original tragedy. You don't come across stories like this every day, and you certainly don't often come across treatments of them that are this good.

It's not written at a sixth-grade level -- a plus for me -- but nowadays I doubt an editor would let Fuller get away with all the French phrases and excerpts he put in the book. Back then I suppose authors could assume they had a more sophisticated readership. I liked the sprinkling of French, sometimes even original letters (translated to English, of course), but if you don't know any French at all, you might want to read this with a dictionary at hand.

Read this book many years ago and was amazed at the detective work of one French doctor who got to the bottom of the botulism poisoning and changed French laws regarding the monopoly of buying flour in various regions of France. It made sound "dry" - it is not. I could not put it down. It certainly puts to the test the practice (admirable) of buying local goods. Okay, if the product is good - deadly, if you have no choice on where you get your goods.

Well-written, fast paced. Captured the dignity of the victims of this toxin and the subsequent bureacratic cover up. And to think this happened within the past 55 years!! It would be interesting to know if there have been similar outbreaks since and how they were handled.

I won't go over the story, as other reviewers already have. I am actually still in the middle of the book and wanted to find out more information about it online. This book pulls you in immediately. Wonderfully written - historically intriguing - with facinating detail. A refreshing read, even though it was written over 40 years ago.

John Fuller wrote a few ghost and UFO books - this is none of them, but rather an intriguing description of the incredible events which happened in the French countryside in the 1950s.

Ergotism is a form of poisoning stemming from a parasitic fungus growing on rye. By means of improper storage and an incompetent central flour distribution bureaucracy, a small town in France, Pont St. Esprit, ended up with a big chunk of poisoned flour. Bakers baked their bread with it, and the townspeople ate it - disaster ensued. Depending on the amount of bread they ate, different people received different dosages. Some became simply sleepless and wired, while others died and some experienced full blown hallucinations.

Yes, hallucinations similar to those evoked by LSD - a substance which only a decade earlier had first been synthesized not too far from Pont St. Esprit, in Switzerland. And LSD is chemically based on the active compound in the ergot fungus. Ergotism ravaged Europe regularly in the middle ages - the 1951 outbreak in Pont St. Esprit was likely the last of this strange episodes, throwing whole communities into a psychedelic rage they did not understand. Only a few years later would LSD make its way out of the Sandoz laboratories into the brains of the 60s enlightenment seekers. In a way, the episode described in this book is a passing of the guard of the role of ergotamines in human culture.

Fuller writes very well. He describes some of the history, village life and landscape surrounding Pont St. Esprit, and gives vivid, personal descriptions of the intoxication that caught the villagers. He also describes in a lot of detail the struggle against the ignorant bureaucracy in their quest for compensation for their suffering. A well written book about a highly unusual episode.

I read this book in the early 1970s, always remembered it. Now a seemimgly credible report from Briton's Daily Telegraph, dated March 11, 2010, starts...."A 50-year mystery over the 'cursed bread' of Pont-Saint-Esprit, which left residents suffering hallucinations, has been solved..." Also see Discovery News "Crooked & Shady Science: Photos" photo #2. This info in NO way detracts from this book, but adds a very interesting insite into the events in this town.

This is a fantastic read about the discovery of the psychedelic drug LSD and the town that endured that horrific event.

I first found this book on my father's bookshelf, but have never seen it again after that. The book riveted me, even from an early age and I have never forgotten some of the twisted events that the book follows. I suggest this book to anyone interested in madness due to ergot or poisoning.