ERGOT OF RYE. 
§§ 601, 602.] 
471 
The latter is a solution in a state of purity of ergotoxine, tyramine, 
and ergamine; and the solution, if protected from the light, is fairly 
stable. 
§ 601. Ergotism. —Ergotised cereals have played a great part in 
various epidemics, probably from very early times, but the only accurate 
records respecting them date from the sixteenth century. According to 
Dr Tissot, 1 the first recorded epidemic was in 1596, when a strange, 
sjjasmodic, convulsive disease broke out in Hessia and the neighbouring 
regions. It was probably due to spurred rye. In Voigtlander, the same 
disease appeared in 1648, 1649, and 1675 ; in 1702 the whole of Freiberg 
was attacked. In Germany and in France successive epidemics are 
described throughout the eighteenth century. In France, in 1710, Ch. 
Noel, physician at the Hotel Dieu, had no less than fifty cases under 
treatment at the same time. 
It is generally said that in 1630, Thuillier, in describing an ergot 
epidemic which broke out in Cologne, first referred the cause of the 
disease to spurred rye. 
It is interesting to inquire into the mortality from this 
disease. In 1770, in an epidemic described by Taube, in which 
600 were affected, 16 per cent. died. In the nineteenth-century 
epidemic (1855), in which, according to Husemann, 30 were ill, 23*3 
per cent. died. In other epidemics, according to Heusinger, out 
of 102, 12 per cent, died; according to Griepenkerl, out of 155, 
25, or 16 per cent., died; and, according to Meyer, of 283 cases, 
6 per cent. died. 
There are two forms of chronic poisoning by ergot—one a spasmodic 
form, the other the gangrenous form. 
§ 602. The convulsive form of ergotism mostly begins with some 
cerebral disturbance. There are sparks before the eyes, giddiness, noises 
in the ears, and a creeping feeling about the body. There is also very 
commonly anaesthesia of the fingers and toes, and later of the extremities, 
of the back, and even of the tongue. Diarrhoea, vomiting, colic, and 
other signs of intestinal irritation seldom fail to be present ; there are 
also tetanic spasms of the muscles, rising in some cases to well-marked 
tetanus ; epilepsy, faintings, aberrations of vision, amaurosis, and ambly¬ 
opia are frequent; the skin becomes of a yellow or earthy colour, and is 
covered with a cold sweat ; boils and other eruptions may break out ; 
blebs, like those caused by burns or scalds, have in a few cases been 
noticed. Death may occur in from four to twelve weeks after the eating 
of the spurred grain, from exhaustion. In those individuals who recover, 
there remain for some time weakness, contractions of groups of muscles, 
anaemia, or affections of vision. 
1 Dr Tissot in Phil. Trans., lv. 106 , 1765 . This is a Latin letter by Dr Baker, 
and gives a good history of the various epidemics of ergotism. 
