702 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
[March 4,1871. 
heated. And again, a great excess of acid, such as 
5 parts of acid and 1 part of hydrate, does not give 
a satisfactory result; neither the chloral nor the acid 
becomes clear, perhaps because of the formation of 
chloralide. 
But as the result of a series of experiments, I 
find that about equal proportions by weight act very 
satisfactorily. The acid after combination with the 
water of the hydrate and the resulting chloral are 
not so widely different in their specific gravities as 
to immediately separate; [I, therefore, prefer to 
warm the mixture to expedite the separation. 
In a graduated tube provided with a well-ground 
glass stopper and graduated into 0T c. c., I introduce 
from 5 to 6 c. c. of sulphuric acid, and heat it by 
placing the tube into a vessel of water of about 
00° C. (140° F.); I then add 10 grammes of chloral 
hydrate, shake well, so as to cover all the hydrate 
with the acid, and put the tube back into the hot 
water. The decomposition is instantaneous, and 
the two liquids separate very distinctly; the cliloral 
floating at the top may be read off as soon as the 
tube lias cooled down to the proper temperature. 
After an hour or so the two liquids begin to mix 
again, and in about twelve hours the chloral is 
changed into metachloral, a substance of exactly the 
same chemical composition as chloral, but solid and 
absolutely insoluble in water and alcohol. 
I find the previous heating of the acid most con¬ 
venient, because, just as in the combination of 
cliloral and water very considerable heat is evolved, 
so in the taking away of the water by sulphuric acid 
an immense amount of heat is absorbed, and the 
cold produced is so considerable as to seriously in¬ 
terfere with the separation of the chloral. Deter¬ 
minations until numerous samples, both with the 
ammonia test and the sulphuric acid test, always 
gave a somewhat higher result with the last, which 
is more correct. 
For this reason, and also because the whole opera¬ 
tion may be completed in a few minutes, I prefer it 
to the ammonia test. In a subsequent paper I in¬ 
tend publishing the corresponding results of the two 
methods. 
THE DEVELOPMENT OP ERGOT. 
BY M. C. COOKE, M.A. 
There is probably no article in the whole range of 
Materia Medica, concerning which more has been 
written than ergot. This is a very rough guess, and 
would exclude even the cinchonas from the first 
place, so that the guess may hardly stand the test. 
At any rate, a great deal has been written about 
ergot, much of which is now forgotten. A curious 
and startling catalogue might be compiled of the 
titles of books, memoirs and communications on this 
almost threadbare topic. Yet, in the face of this, we 
are seated, in a deliberate mood, to add another 
chapter to the long story of ergot. Tliis chapter is 
intended to be devoted wholly to one phase of the 
subject, which is, the “natural history,” or plant- 
development of the fungus. 
We will say nothing of the difference of opinion 
as to the ergot itself being a transformation of the 
germen, or a parasite of the germen, but start at 
once with the Secale cor nut am, as the first stage. 
In tliis condition it is called by botanists a sclerotium, 
and this particular one is Sclerotium clavus. What 
is to be understood by a Sclerotium ? is a very natu¬ 
ral question to suggest itself. It will not do to pass 
it as a generic name, since it has no value as a 
genus, and even were it not so, the answer would be 
insufficient. Fungi are known to be developed in 
the majority of instances, from certain root-like fila¬ 
ments called mycelia. Sometimes these filaments 
are very much compacted, and in the present, and 
some allied instances, assume the form of a compact 
cellular mass called a sclerotium. So that a sclero¬ 
tium is, in fact, a compact mycelium, a sort of bul¬ 
bous mycelium, of variable shape. Such is ergot. 
Whether produced on wheat, rye or the grasses, 
this sclerotium differs very little in form, being horn¬ 
shaped, whilst other lands of sclerotium are spherical, 
discoid or irregular. 
The earliest condition of this species is manifested 
by the presence of a thick gummy matter on the 
spikes of corn or grass, and this contains granules. 
During the growth of the sclerotium it is invested 
by a coating described in detail by Professor Quekett, 
in a memoir devoted by liim to this subject. What 
the relation is between the gummy matter and the 
sclerotium and its coating is uncertain, unless it be 
accepted that the sclerotium is developed ultimately 
from the base of a spermogone, which, in the first 
instance, exuded spermatia in the aforesaid gummy 
mass. The coating was considered a distinct fungus, 
parasitic on the ergot, by Quekett, and called by 
him Ergotetia abortifaciens , whilst Berkeley retained 
it in Oidium, with the same specific name. It is 
now regarded as the spermatiferous condition of the 
complete fungus. Quekett described tliis coating as 
consisting of minute bodies, which are seen, sepa¬ 
rated from each other, when they are removed from 
the ergot, but when viewed in their natural situation 
they are occasionally united by their extremities 
forming short moniliform filaments, technically 
“ Sporidia (spermatia) elliptical, moniliform, finally 
separating, transparent, and containing seldom more 
than one, two, or three well-defined (greenish) 
granules.” * 
Another view taken of the relations of the sclero¬ 
tium with other fungi is, that the species of Fusarium, 
described by Nees, under the name of Fusarium 
heterosporium, produces, in its supposed spindle- 
shaped spores, the spermatia, and that the simple 
bodies produced on the sclerotium (the Ergotetia of 
Quekett, and Oidium of Berkeley) are the conidia of 
the fungus ultimately developed from the ergot. 
Never having had the opportunity of watcliing the 
growth of the ergot carefully, we shall not venture 
an opinion on the identity of all the bodies supposed 
to be connected with the reproduction of this species, 
and called by numerous names. 
The ultimate stage consists in the growth of little 
stalked bodies with rounded heads from and upon 
the sclerotium. If ergot of rye, wheat, etc., be slightly 
covered with soil in spring (March or April), and 
kept moderately moist with rain water, in the course 
of time a crop of these stalked bodies will be pro¬ 
duced, but patience is quite necessary, for six months 
may be required for their growth. These are the 
Cordyceps purpurea, or Claviceps purpurea, by which 
name the whole of the forms of this polymorphous 
fungus should be called. Hence we have the stroma, 
or compact mycelium (sclerotium), conidia, spermatia, 
* E. J. Quekett, " On Ergot of Rye,” etc. Linn. Trans, 
yol. xviii. p. 453. 
