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Previous Volume 347:297-298 July 25, 2002 Number 4 Next

	Since this article has no abstract, we have provided an extract of the first 100 words of the full text and any section headings.

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By Norman F. Cantor. 256 pp., illustrated. New York, Free Press, 2001. $25. ISBN 0-684-85735-9.

The other day, when I went to pick up my daughter from nursery school, she and her friends were gleefully singing, holding hands, and moving around in a circle. The song, of course, was that perennial favorite, "Ring around the rosies. A pocketful of posies. Ashes, ashes, we all fall down." What none of the children realized was that this song dates back to the Middle Ages. Its odd lyrics actually refer to the influenza-like symptoms, skin discoloration, and rapid death caused by the infamous bubonic plague of the late 14th century (Figure 1).

View larger version (82K): [in this window] [in a new window]   Figure 1. Die Seuche, by A. . . . [Full Text of this Article]

 

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