ERGOT IN GRASSES. 09 



be a mixture. Unquestionably ergot contains 

 oily matter and a saccharine principle, and 

 when taken into the system, its effects are ex- 

 tremely violent. The use of ergot of rye as a 

 medicine, in peculiar cases, has long been 

 well known to the faculty, and recently ergot 

 of wheat has been found to be even more 

 potent than the other. A high temperature, 

 as is the case with most vegetable poisons, 

 destroys its injurious properties, and the 

 rapidity with which such substances become 

 volatile, presents a serious obstacle to its being 

 accurately examined in the laboratory of the 

 chemist. 



In certain places, ergot is extremely common 

 in rye, and it is more so than has been suspected 

 in wheat. It occurs in many grasses. In 

 1844 and 1845, it was abundant in the follow- 

 ing grasseis — lolium perenne, lolium arvefise, 

 festuca pratensisyphleum pratensCj dactylis gto- 

 merata. In the lolium it was extremely abun- 

 dant, so that the author can say, he scarcely 

 examined a field either in the east or west of 

 England, for he tried many in both, without 

 speedily finding specimens. There are locali- 

 ties in which the ergot has not been seen at all 

 in wheat, and we find botanists accordingly 



