ERGOTISM 
275 
grasses when it is young. Different parts of the flower as¬ 
sume a mildewed appearance, and become covered with a 
white coating composed of a multitude of spore like bodies 
mixed with delicate cobweb-like filaments; a sweet fluid, at 
first limpid, afterwards viscid and yellowish, is exuded; the 
anthers and stigmas are cemented together; the ovule swells 
till it far exceeds the size of the natural seed, bursts its integu¬ 
ments, is elongated, and is often curved, sometimes carrying 
on its apex a cap formed of the stigmas and anthers aggluti¬ 
nated, and assumes a grey, brown, purple, violet and finally a 
black color, as the viscid exudation dries and hardens. The 
structure differs very much from that of the properly de¬ 
veloped seed. The qualities are not less different; nearly 
one-half of the whole substance consists of fungin ; and the 
cells contain, instead of starch globules, a fixed oil (oil of er¬ 
got.) Ergot appears to have been first discovered on rye, in 
which it is very conspicuous for the large size it attains, 
though it frequently makes its appearance on other cereals, 
particularly on barley, wheat and maize. It was supposed to 
be a disease occasioned by wet seasons or other climatic 
causes, but it is now fully determined to be due to the presence 
of the mycelium of a fungus, the spores of which may be car¬ 
ried to the flower through the juices of the plant, for there is 
reason to. believe that ergot in a field of grain may be pro¬ 
duced by infected seed; and this is undoubtedly the reason 
that the fields of which I shall presently speak are affected 
year after year. 
THE ACTION OF ERGOT ON THE ANIMAL BODY. 
According to Diez, the principal effects of poisonous doses 
of ergot are in the lower animals profuse salivation, vomiting, 
dilation of the pupils, hurried breathing, frequent pulse, cries, 
trembling, staggering, paraplegia, sometimes diarrhoea, some¬ 
times constipation, thirst, convulsions and death. 
Mr. S. A. Wright, in a series of experiments (.Edinburgh 
Medical and Surgical Journal) noted when the medicine was 
given by the mouth symptoms similar to those just spoken of, 
the paralysis was much more marked than the spasms. Late 
