Hello Jim:

Thanks for the heads up on medieval ale. 6 years ago we did a stage show
"Life & times of John Barlycorn" in which my partner did a monolog by a
Renaissance alewife (based on a scholarly book). Did you see my article
"Representations of drink in English songs, 1600-1900" in ALC & TEMP IN MOD
HIST vol 1 ? It looks at class & gender differences in attitudes toward
drink based on theme analysis 0f 500 songs - data which has yet to be
confirmed from sociological research. If you don't own the books, I can send
it EM or as a photocopy.

I published earlier in SHAR a short comparison of Irish vs. British song
themes finding the main Irish theme in the 19th C to be 'fighting'. That led
me to a historical-anthropological-psychological paper on "Recreational
fighting" (my training being neuropsychology) - a short version is attached
here. The non-western examples were edited out.

As I am now writing about the physiological basis of imagery &
hallucinations, I've looked for descriptions of the latter following
quaffing of absinthe - hoping some writers had described them (as did some
on opium) - no luck so far but perhaps Baker will give me a lead. The
pharmacology of it's main stimulant, thujone, appears to be unknown.

Cheers - David Ingle (retired)  Framingham, MA