268 PRODUCTION OF ERGOT IN WHEAT, RYE, ETC. 
diseased ears when they have grown in the rows of potatoes, 
the manure put in with, the tubers having contained the 
seed grains ; hence the seeding was at a late period of the 
spring. 
Occasionally l have had a small portion of rye ground 
into flour with wdieat, for the purposes of the house, and 
have ever had complaints of its acting injuriously to the 
female part of my family. The grains of ergot I have put 
away in a drawer w-ithin a secretaire desk, and in tw r o years 
have found the grains infected considerably with acari 
[mites.) It would appear as if the chemical property of the 
corn had been much changed in its conversion into this 
monstrous growth, for, instead of being constituted of 
gluten and starch, of which most corn grain consists, this 
ergot has imbibed a considerable portion of the inflammable 
gas of hydrogen ; for if a grain is held in a flame by means 
of a pin, it will take fire and burn like a candle, with a 
pleasant scent. 
It has been presumed that the disease is occasioned by 
the puncture of an insect at the base of the grain, by others 
that it is the result of a fungal attack. 
Much attention has been given to this subject by philo- 
sophers in various parts of Europe. In our own country, 
Mr. Bauer had gone into the subject of diseases of corn ; his 
drawings may seen in the British Museum ; copies of many 
appeared in the c Penny Magazine/ in the year 1832, and 
may also be found in the c Linnean Transactions.’ He con- 
firms the opinion of those who consider the ergot to be 
a monstrous development of the seed of corn, and other 
species of the grass tribe ; he has given accurate drawings, 
and objects to the idea«of its being the effects of a certain 
fungus, which is found on plants not producing the ergot. 
Animals cannot continue to partake of this diseased corn, 
even in small quantities, without becoming diseased, and if 
continued, would die from its effects. There is much reason 
to believe that some animals have become diseased by eating 
the ergotted heads of grasses; and thus the cause of the 
disease was not easily accounted for. Many experiments have 
been made to show the effects of the ergotted grains on the 
low er animals ; many of these are painful to read. They 
have been principally instituted in France, where, in some 
situations, rye is the principal food of the lower class of the 
people. The low T er animals have shown great repugnance to 
eating the diseased grains, and have preferred starvation 
to voluntarily partaking of it, even when mixed in small 
portions with their ordinary food. When compelled to 
