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