VOL. LV.] PHILOSOPHICAL TRANS AC flOXS. 21 1 



gius clavus secalinus; but notwithstanding this diversity of names, it cannot 

 easily be confounded with other diseases. Perhaps Moneta is the only writer who 

 has introduced an error in this respect, affirming that the secale cornutum is 

 nothing more than the rye-grain increased to a larger bulk than natural (gigantea 

 grana) from a luxuriancy of growth in fruitful years; that such rye-grain is not 

 unwholesome; and that, contrary to the observation of all other writers, barley 

 and wheat are also liable to the ergot; (d) but Dr. T. is persuaded that Moneta 

 never saw the secale cornutum, but merely some over-grown rye-grain, samples 

 of which are every year to be met with. The lady who wrote the letter published 

 by Salerne,(e) mentions that the spurred r)'e is sometimes larger, sometimes 

 smaller than the common rj-e-grain; and Mr. Hanovius(f) seems inclined to be- 

 lieve that the secale cornutum is a disease of the nature of a marasmus; but 

 these opinions are contrary to those of all other writers on this subject. 



As often, therefore, as there is any mention of the rubigo, ustilago, or secale 

 cornutum, it should be carefully remembered, that the rubigo, aerugo, ruggine, 

 robbiga, mildew, sue miell^ and perhaps bled vante, are one and the same 

 disease; that the ustilago, uredo, fuligo, nigella, volpe, nielle, brulure, is an- 

 other and a very different disease, of which there are 2 species, viz. the caries (la 

 carie) and the carbunculus (le charbon ;) and that the secale cornutum (called 

 also secale luxurians, mater secalis, mutterkorn, orga, and clavus secalinus,) is 

 a third kind of disease, totally distinct from those before mentioned. 



Dr. T. then states that the ancients were not ignorant of the mischief occa- 

 sioned by the use of vitiated grain for food, and that Galen has delivered some 

 excellent precepts on the subject, (g) 



Bread made of wheat or other grain infected with the nigella or charbon, is 

 viscidj heavy, and nauseous, to those who are unaccustomed to it. And in 

 1758, when this sort of bread was very common, it appeared to be the cause of 

 many chronic diseases of the skin and bowels. Langolius mentions that a 

 person, out of curiosity, swallowed some grains of wheat infected with the usti- 

 lago, and was afterwards seized with pains of the limbs, which, however, went 

 off after a few evacuations by stool. 



But the mischief which follows the use of the secale cornutum in food, is of 

 the most serious kind; and as it is probable that this vitiation of rye has existed 

 from time immemorial. Dr. T. is induced to believe that mankind have in all 

 ages suffered from the disorders which it occasions, although none of the an- 



(d) Comment, de Reb. in Hist. Nat. et jMed. gesti* Tom. III. p. 520. 



(e) Memoire sur les Maladies que cause la Seigle Ergottc in the Memoires de Mathematlque el 

 de Physique presentes a I'Academie Royale deg Sciences, Tom. II. p. l6l. 



(0 Comment, de Reb. in Hist. &c. as before quoted, 

 (g) De Alimentor. Facultatibus, 1. i. c. 37. 



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