20 Hay AND FODDER. 
supposed. The action of the drug in contracting the 
walls of the uterus is well known to physicians, however, 
and is made use of in obstetrical work. 
In cases of poisoning, tannic acid should be adminis- 
tered to neutralize any ergot remaining in the aliment- 
tary tract. For what has been absorbed 
Treatment Ghioral hydrate and nitrous ether are the best 
physiological antidotes. Warm antiseptic dressings 
should be applied to parts threatened with gangrene. 
Sometimes amputation of gangrenous ears or tail is neces- 
sary. 
The plant is a parasitic fungus belonging to the As- 
comycetes or sac-fungi, so-called, because they bear their 
spores in asci or sacs. Its threadlike hyphae 
feed on and replace the cells in the seed of the 
affected plant, forming a hard, compact mass 
known as the sclerotium, black on the surface and white 
or slightly purplish within. The hardness and light colour 
of the interior of the ergotized grain render it easily dis- 
tinguishable from grains infected by smut or bunt, which 
have a dark granular appearance. The sclerotium is con- 
siderably longer than the uninfected grain, cylindrical or 
slightly angular, with pointed ends. The mass of hyphae 
composing it is concealed by globules of fat which must 
be dissolved out if the microscopic structure is to become 
evident. 
This sclerotium is the wintering stage of the Claviceps. 
In the spring it does not grow into a young plant like 
the unaffected grain, since the germ has been destroyed 
‘by the fungus, but if it secures lodgment in a damp 
place, produces here and there small raised spots which 
develop into minute globular bodies with stalks. The 
round heads change from white to a pinkish colour as 
The Ergot 
Fungus 
