114 TRANSLATIONS FROM CONTINENTAL JOURNALS. 
maize, or Indian wheat, and canary seed. The graminea 3 of 
the meadows are likewise not exempt from it. Wiggers cites 
several species on which it is found, and according to De Can¬ 
dolle it is found on all the graminese; Galaina adds to the 
grasses the family of the Cyperuses. In the Brazils, China, 
and the East Indies, rice is equally subject to it. All sorts of 
soil may give rise to it, but that which is cold and damp is 
most congenial to its development, especially in those years in 
which the atmosphere has been damp and foggy, with much 
ranq particularly when the corn is in blossom. The influence 
of humidity is such that the ergot can he produced at pleasure 
by merely watering the roots of the rye to excess. 
Tessier has observed, and others have confirmed, that 
those fields of rye which do not receive a sufficient isolation, 
or are exposed to malaria, are always very rich in ergot. 
Martin, Field, and Diez, assure us that the ergot can he 
produced by pricking the grains of rye with a needle at the 
time of their formation. The question of contagion has also 
been raised, but has not been yet solved, only two experiments 
having been made, Hertwig suspended some ergot in the 
neighbourhood of rye in blossom; he also strewed the 
powder over the ears, without the slightest effect. Wiggers, 
on the contrary, found the ergot developed on rye at 
the root of which he had deposited the powder of ergot. 
Chemical analysis leaves much to be desired. Wiggers has 
found T3£ of a reddish, pulverulent, acrid, nauseous matter, 
insoluble in water and ether, but soluble in alcohol; he con¬ 
siders this the active immediate principle of the ergot, and 
calls it ergotine. The ergotine of Bonjeau is a soft, red- 
brown extract, obtained by aqueous and alcoholic digestion 
of the pulverised ergot, after it has been deprived of its oil 
by means of ether. This process give 13*3£ of ergotine, 
which has all the properties of the ergot. The analyses agree 
as to the presence of 36% of fixed oil, which is thick and of 
a bright yellow colour. To detect the presence of ergot in 
bread, Wiggers recommends its treatment with ether, which 
leaves after the evaporation a yellow, oily residue, denoting 
its presence. The study of the effects produced by the ergot 
on the organism offers a double interest, as an active mor¬ 
bific agent; it is at the same time a powerful therapeutic 
remedy. 
History .—From the eleventh to the thirteenth century 
there appeared in France and also in Spain several grave epi¬ 
demics. The first chroniclers who mention them, true to tra¬ 
ditional habit, have confounded them under the generic name 
of pest. In the tenth century they had received a special name. 
