0N T ERGOT. 
O ■VQ 
o/ o 
ergot, if long kept, like all other vegetable substances, 
undergoes change, consequently it should not be employed 
after it is twelve months old, or two vears at the furthest. 
Besides this it is very liable to be preyed upon by an acarus. 
To preserve, it it has been proposed to encoat it with mucilage 
of gum, then to dry it, and keep it in closely stoppered 
bottles having a little camphor in them. Spurious ergot has 
also been met with in the market, made of plaster of Paris, 
and coloured secundum artem. 
While some practitioners doubt its influence, others as 
boldly ascribe to it heroic or specific action, averring that it 
is an agent of unquestionable power, having an overwhelming 
influence on the womb, so much so, as to cause it rapidly 
to expel its contents, and even to cause its inversion, and 
sometimes its rupture. We are inclined to think that it is a 
stimulus to this organ, causing in it powerful contractions, 
the cases that have come under our notice warranting our 
taking this view of its action, so that when the natural throes 
have commenced these are aided by it, and parturition becomes 
perfected. 
It may be asked if any other stimulant would not act 
similarly? Perhaps it might, but not exactly the same. 
Sometimes tonics combined with diffusible stimulants have 
been successfully administered. If, however, we have an 
agent that possesses this twofold action, why not resort to it? 
It has been likewise given to restrain uterine haemorrhage, and 
also for throwing off the foetal or placental membranes, when 
this act has been delayed, and dislodging morbid growths, all 
of which show its influence on the uterus. And besides all 
this, it has been stated frequently to cause abortion in animals. 
Professor Simonds, the late Mr. Youatt, M r. W. C. Spooner, 
Mr. Gowing, and many more of our profession, advocate its 
use in cattle and other animals when labour is protracted or 
difficult; this latter being dependent simply on loss of power, 
not arising from malformation of parts or false presentation, 
but merely atony of the womb. 
When spurred rye has been made into bread and eaten for 
some time, frightful effects have been produced by it on the 
human subject. M. Dodard first called the attention of the 
public to this. He says that persons who have eaten rye- 
bread made with corrupted grain are liable to be affected 
with gangrene in their extremities, which is usually attended 
with little or no fever or pain; but during its progress the use of 
the limb affected becomes lost, or the limb itself dies and 
separates from the body. The parts at first become insensible 
and cold, and at last dry, hard, and withered. Saviard relates 
