Ludwig van Beethoven died in 1827, his body wracked by pain and his mind wandering. Ever since then, there has been debate over the cause of his disorders, both physical and mental.

Now modern science has advanced the theory that lead poisoning was the likely villain. An examination of a lock of Beethoven's hair, taken shortly after his death in Vienna, showed high levels of lead. "High lead concentrations in Beethoven's hair were found in independent analyses by McCrone Research Institute and Argonne National Laboratory," the Ira F. Brilliant Center for Beethoven Studies reported recently. "This is evidence that Beethoven had plumbism [lead poisoning], which may have caused his life-long illnesses, impacted his personality, and possibly contributed to his death."

The researchers used an electron accelerator to create detailed X-ray pictures that permitted identification of the high lead levels. The lead in Beethoven's hair was found to be 60 parts per million, or 100 times the normal amount found in the human body, and enough to cause the abdominal pains and depression that Beethoven suffered before he died at the age of 56.

In his biography, "Beethoven" (Schirmer Books, 1977), Maynard Solomon recorded Nikolaus Johann's report of the composer's condition not long before his death: "He would eat nothing at lunch except soft-boiled eggs, but then he would drink more wine so that he suffered diarrhea; thereby his belly became bigger and bigger, and he wore a bandage over it for a long time."

Solomon added, "He complained of thirst, loss of appetite and pains in his abdomen. His feet became filled with fluids."

In announcing the findings, William J. Walsh, the chief scientist at the Health Research Institute in Naperville, Ill., said that abdominal distress is a common symptom of lead poisoning.

The source of the lead is not known. One possibility is that it came from the mineral water Beethoven swam in and drank during his visits to spas.

Syphilis Unlikely, Opiates Absent

Another test conducted found "very low (undetectable) mercury levels" in the hair. "These results provide no evidence that Beethoven received medical treatment for syphilis, usually treated in the 1820s with mercury compounds," the Beethoven center said. "This supports the consensus of Beethoven scholars who believe that Beethoven never had syphilis. Rumors that Beethoven suffered from syphilis have been discounted in all serious musicological literature for the last thirty years."

Beethoven's love life has always been an enigma. Solomon wrote in his biography, "It seems clear that there was some element of pretense or at least self-deception in Beethoven's continual series of flirtations which bordered upon, but never became love affairs." Another test on the composer's hair was conducted by Werner Baumgartner at Psychemedics Corporation in Los Angeles. Twenty hairs were examined to determine whether Beethoven received any opiate painkillers during the last months of his life.

"A negative result was obtained," the Beethoven center said, "indicating that these hairs did not contain any evidence to support ingestion of morphine or other forms of opiates [such as laudanum]. Morphine has a long and historic use as a pain-killer, sedative, treatment for fever, and anti-diarrhea medicine in Europe."

That finding suggested that, despite his pain, Beethoven wanted to keep his mind clear, unhindered by opiates, the center suggested.

History Of A Lock

The Beethoven center, which is at San Diego State University, said that the provenance of the lock of hair used in the tests was clear from an inscription written on the back of the frame of a locket that contained it. The inscription read: "This hair was cut off of Beethoven's corpse by my father, Dr. Ferdinand v. Hiller, on the day after Ludwig van Beethoven's death, that is, on 27 March 1827, and was given to me as a birthday present in Cologne on May 1, 1883. Paul Hiller."

Ferdinand Hiller was a German conductor and teacher who traveled to Vienna in 1827 at the age of 15 to visit Beethoven on his deathbed.

"The lock of hair stayed in the Hiller family until sometime in the 20th century," the center said. "It next surfaced in 1943 when it was given to a Danish doctor named Kay Alexander Fremming as payment for providing medical treatment for Jews trying to escape from the Nazis. The lock of hair stayed in the Fremming family until it was sold at auction at Sotheby's in December 1994."

For those wondering what color Beethoven's hair was, the tests showed that the lock contained hair with three clearly observable colors: gray, white and brown. The hairs range in length from three to six inches.

More examinations of Beethoven's hair and, it is hoped, further findings are likely, since Alfredo Guevara, one of the successful bidders at Sotheby's, who paid $7,300 for the lock of hair, has retained 160 hairs. The Ira F. Brilliant Center for Beethoven Studies has the rest of the lock, containing 422 hairs.

The center said that other locks of Beethoven's hair are at the Library of Congress, the University of Hartford, the British Library, the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Vienna and the Beethoven-Haus in Bonn, Germany.