[krisoft]

> Moreover, ethylene in the concentrations that cause trances is extremely flammable, and there’s no historical record of any explosions or fires.

That doesn't seem to be true. Herodotus 2.180:

"When the Amphictyons paid three hundred talents to have the temple that now stands at Delphi finished (as that which was formerly there burnt down by accident), it was the Delphians' lot to pay a fourth of the cost." [1]

I'm not a student of the Classics so I can't verify from the original. This source [2] seems to imply that the world choice implies as if the place burnt down on its own.

1: http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%...

2: https://erenow.net/ancient/delphi-a-history-of-the-center-of...

[MonkeyClub]

With apologies for hastiness, rushed day -

Greek: "ὁ γὰρ πρότερον ἐὼν αὐτόθι αὐτόματος κατεκάη"

(http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%...)

Literal translation: "because the one [= the temple] that previously existed in the same place completely burned down on its own"

The crux here is on "αὐτόματος", for which see LSJ: http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=au%29to%2Fmatos&...

[KMag]

I know barely enough Greek to sound it out, but "αὐτόματος" is "automatos", which probably gives enough information to anyone not interested in following the link.

[CobrastanJorji]

"There is no historical record of..." is an interesting assertion. On the one hand, it's easy to make and sort of requires no citation because there wouldn't be one. "There is no historical record of Caesar's fondness for juggling." But on the other hand, it's a dangerous claim because it's extremely falsifiable, like in your example. But I suppose it's easy to say "whoops, I read all of the historical records but forgot about Histories book 2, good find!"

[Mathnerd314]

A stronger claim is to limit yourself to some sources: "There is no record of X in A's history of B or C's history of D." If you read the sources it is unlikely to be falsified, and the reader who wants to debate you at least knows where not to look.

[eru]

> But on the other hand, it's a dangerous claim because it's extremely falsifiable, like in your example.

Making claims that are easy to falsify is good!

[dr_dshiv]

“There is no historical record of the deliberate use of psilocybin mushrooms in Europe before 1957”

I had to make this claim recently. There is also a shocking lack of evidence for the use of cannabis in the Greco-Roman period (apart from Herodotus discussing the Scythians—and a reference in Exodus).

[CobrastanJorji]

I am curious. How does one investigate such a claim? I imagine general expertise in the subject is a big start, and perhaps some sort of electronic search for certain keywords in some sort of historical records database (I assume there are such things?), but beyond that, it seems challenging. And then how does one demonstrate that such a search was conducted?

[dr_dshiv]

Here’s an example wrt cannabis: https://saltonverde.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/17-Handbo...

[amluto]

Nice. Also this article seems to conflate the ethylene concentration in water with that in air.