Fraters Libertas

I’m Going To Praiseland!

I may be a bit behind the curve on this one (in that it was published in the August 2001 edition of Geology), but I get my science news from Scientific American, thank you very much. A feature article in this month’s SA (”Questioning the Delphic Oracle” August 2003) has revealed to me that the once discredited view of the mystery behind the oracle of Delphi has now been vindicated.

For those of you that don’t recall the details, the temple of Apollo at Delphi was where ancient Grecians would go to hear the words of the god Apollo delivered through the Pythia, a chosen Delphic woman. This chosen one would answer questions, give advice and provide guidance on any number of topics, a function reserved in contemporary society for women like Carolyn Hax, Dionne Warwick and Carla Houle.

The classical explanation for the Pythia’s trance-like state and seizure-like episodes during these “readings” was geologic in nature. It was thought that there was a deep chasm in the earth beneath the temple through which gas vapors would rise resulting in somewhat odd behavior by those above who happened to be in position to inhale the fumes.

Then along came the sneaky French type persons. In the early 1900’s, they declared the temple of Apollo free of any such phenomena and the theory was officially debunked. More than likely, the French bastards were probably only saying this to discourage any more exploration on the site so they could swoop in and bottle the stuff to be sold as an exotic replacement for absinthe.

Well, it seems that the French were wrong. Fancy that. Recent explorations have found that there are, in fact, two fault lines running underneath the temple of Apollo and that they cross at the site of the oracle. When earthquakes cause movement along these faults, the resulting friction heats up the limestone below the surface and vaporizes certain petrochemicals deposited there by rising spring water. One of these petrochemicals is ethylene, which does spectacular things to the human body’s nervous system when inhaled and results in behavior such as oracle spouting while in a trance like state, which happened to be the Pythia’s specialty.

My point to all of this is (there is one coming…wait for it) hinges on the following (quoted from Scientific American):

To help interpret the possible effects of such gases on human subjects in a confined space…(Henry) Spiller, a toxicologist, became a member of the project. His work with "huffers"--teenage drug users who get high on the fumes from substances such as glue and paint thinner, most of which contain light hydrocarbon gases--had shown a number of parallels with the behavior reported for the trance state of the Pythia.

So, the next time you need some guidance…when you have the phone in your hand ready to call up the Psychic Friends Network to help you through tomorrow’s big interview (I’m looking in your direction, Mitch)…forget all of that B.S. and head downtown where you’ll find plenty of young men on the street corner with Lysol cans at the ready just waiting to share their special gift with you. Just don’t step in the pools of vomit.