Mr. Bauer on the Ergot of Rye. 479 
Galen mentions fever, delirium, gangrenous ulcers, &c., occasioned by it: 
and Tessier gives the results of many experiments, which not only confirm 
what Galen said of the ill effects the ergot has upon the human frame, but 
he also ascertained that it produces the same ill effects upon the health 
of brutes, such as dogs, swine, and poultry,—which all instinctively refuse 
to eat the ergot of rye; but by disguising it, and by forcibly feeding them with 
it, he found the same injurious and frequently fatal effect was produced on 
these animals as that on the human species. 
The discovery of the very beneficial and almost wonderful medicinal quali- 
ties of the ergot of rye is but of very recent date; Tessier, about 1783, says 
* [t is asserted by some that it is successfully employed in hastening labour, 
and in pleurisy ;" but, he observes, “those assertions are not authenticated ; 
and even if they were true, they would not disprove the injurious qualities it 
has in other cases, and under other circumstances.” 
Dr. Stearns, of New York, seems to be the first who found the ergot of rye 
to be the most efficacious remedy in cases of protracted labour and excessive 
hemorrhage; in such cases, about 1822, he employed it most successfully, 
and since that time it has been almost generally adopted in this country with 
equal success. The periodical publication, The Lancet, since 1828 to this time, 
records many most interesting and successful cases, reported by eminent and 
extensive practitioners, from which it appears, that the lives of many patients, 
whose cases had been considered hopeless, have been saved by the instanta- 
neous effects of this substance. 
The ergot of rye is now an article provided in every dispensary ; and since 
its important and beneficial medicinal quality is ascertained, even if an efficient 
remedy for preventing this disease were known, it would not be advisable to 
extirpate it; and there is no doubt, that, when those valuable qualities of the 
ergot get generally known among the cultivators and farmers, and that a 
bushel of ergots will probably fetch more than four or five bushels of the finest 
rye, they will think it worth their while to collect, and carefully separate, the 
ergots from the corn; by so doing, they would not only be compensated for 
their trouble by the sale, but at the same time purify the corn, and thus pre- 
vent the pernicious effects of the ergot. 
VOL. XVIII. 3 n 
