2000 analysis uncovered cause of Beethoven's death

Question: How has modern science determined the cause of death of the great composer Ludwig van Beethoven? What body part told the tale?

Answer: Even as a young man Beethoven knew something was seriously wrong with him, says John Emsley in "The Elements of Murder: A History of Poison." He was afflicted with terrible colic, and by age 32 was showing signs of deafness.

After he died (1827), locks of his hair were clipped and put into a locket, which eventually wound up with the American Beethoven Society. In 2000, six strands were analyzed at the Argonne National Laboratory, revealing 60 ppm of lead, a hundred times more than normal. The amount of mercury was normal, thus scotching an old rumor that mercury prescribed as a cure for a "social disease" had killed him.

Many sources could have contaminated the composer — water from a lead cistern, wine, lead-glazed pottery holding acidic foods, etc. But it was probably not hair dye, since his gray, white and brown strands suggested he was graying naturally and not trying to disguise it. Other lead victims at the time suffered similar to Beethoven, with central nervous system damage that may have accounted for his well-known irascible temperament, and total deafness by about age 50.

Question: Will a household cat or dog eat its owner who dies and whose body stays undiscovered for some time, leaving the pet unfed?

Answer: We see instances of pets feeding on their deceased owners (anthropophagy) from time to time, its rarity probably reflecting that the opportunity does not occur that often, says North Carolina Chief Medical Examiner John D. Butts, M.D. "In our experience, the animal is usually a dog."

Interestingly enough, dogs will target certain parts of the human body first, says State University of New York-Canton criminal investigations and forensic science professor Steve Gilbert, MFS, ABD.

First comes the daily licking of the deceased's face and hands, then an eating away at these parts, then elsewhere. "There is no difference between dogs and cats when it comes to survival: Both will eat what they must."

Far grimmer than the cases of dead owners, as reported in "The American Journal of Forensic Medicine and Pathology," are the cases of elderly people who sadly signal weakness and vulnerability to groups of predatory dogs.