EEGOT: THE USE AND ABUSE OF THIS DAN¬ 
GEROUS DRUG. 
BY GEOBGE J. ENGELHANN, M. D., 
St. Louis. 
Much is said in condemnation of meddlesome midwifery, 
as applied to early or injudicious operative interference, and 
especially to the use of the obstetric forceps; but meddle¬ 
some midwifery of a far more insidious and dangerous kind ? 
because it is less evident and more common, has almost en¬ 
tirely escaped criticism. 
It is the abuse of ergot in obstetric practice to which I 
would impute a great, if not the greater, part of the suffering 
to which women who have borne children are condemned. 
In labor and in abortion ergot is a universal and perpetual 
remedy in the hands of physician and midwife; it is the all- 
powerful and the only agent in use. in the obstetric practice 
of too many. The injury done by this powerful drug is so 
great that I would condemn its use altogether; parturient 
women would be less prone to injury if ergot were stricken 
from the pharmacopoeia. It is never absolutely necessary or 
irreplaceable, and, where it might prove really useful, can not 
be relied upon for immediate action, so that in these cases 
other means must, of necessity, be resorted to. 
In obstetric practice it does good service, if given after 
the contents of the uterus have been expelled, to stimulate 
contraction when labor is completed, especially after the phy¬ 
sician has left his patient. 
In extreme cases, where it is urgently necessary that uter¬ 
ine contractions be excited, this drug, with which so much 
Missouri Botanical. Garden- 
George , Engelmann Papers. 
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