624 ERGOT AN ECBOLIC 



MEDICINAL USES. As a parturient, ergot is seldom needed] 

 in the lower animals. The foal or calf, coming naturally at 

 the full period, if assistance is requisite, is generally brought 

 away by judicious traction. It is sometimes useful in 

 uterine inertia, where the throes are languid and occurring 

 at long intervals, where the animal has been in labour for 

 some considerable time, where no obstruction is present, 

 and where the os uteri is considerably dilated. It is un-j 

 suitable where there is malformation either of the mother 

 or foetus, where the position of the foetus prevents its ready 

 expulsion, and sometimes also in first pregnancies, where the 

 uterus, roused to continuous tetanic contractions, is more 

 liable to be injured or torn. After parturition, if the uterus 

 remain flaccid, and especially if haemorrhage occur, as 

 occasionally happens both in cows and ewes, ergot effectually 

 contracts the organ, and thus arrests the bleeding. In such 

 cases it may be given by the mouth, or, where prompt 

 effects are sought, it is injected subcutaneously, or into the 

 substance of a muscle. It is sometimes prescribed to remove 

 uterine cysts and hasten expulsion of the foetal membranes, 

 which in the lower animals may usually, however, be readily 

 removed by the hand. Given either by the mouth or in- 

 jection, it is often used in haemoptysis, and sometimes 

 in haematemesis and other haemorrhages, but it is doubtful 

 whether any beneficial result occurs in the first of these. 

 The pulmonary vessels are quite independent of vaso-motor 

 control ; are not constricted by ergot ; but are actually 

 dilated by the general rise of blood-pressure. It is of no 

 avail in purpura. Robertson recommended it in cerebro- 

 spinal meningitis in horses ; and several practitioners have 

 tried it, but without much success, in parturient apoplexy 

 in cows. The reduction of fibroid and other tumours has 

 sometimes been effected by injecting them with ergot. 



In addition to the powdered drug the following official 

 preparations are used : Extractum Ergotae (Ergotin) ; 

 Extractum Ergotae Liquidum ; Infusum Ergotae (1 to 20 of 

 boiling water) ; Tinctura Ergotae Ammoniata ; and In- 

 jectio Ergotae Hypodermica (made with ergot-extract). 

 It must be noted that the active constituents of ergot are 

 very unstable, and hence many preparations and samples 



