326  Notes  on  "Physiological  Testing."  {^mju°5y'i9Pc»aim- 
produce  no  action.  I  noted  that,  after  repeated  injections  of  ergot 
into  cocks,  these  animals  showed  marked  hypertrophy  of  the  comb, 
and  gangrene  occurred  at  the  site  of  injection,  an  observation  agree- 
ing with  those  of  Fere1  and  Santesson. 
The  chemical  test  of  the  activity  of  ergot  I  think  unreliable.  Dr. 
Dohme2  and  I  made  some  years  ago  a  statement  that  the  Keller 
method  of  assay  for  cornutine  was  a  fairly  accurate  method  of  stand, 
ardizing  ergot.  I  shall  have  to  modify  my  part  of  this  statement 
by  saying  that  unquestionably,  so  far  as  I  have  seen,  all  the  active 
principle  which  causes  bluing  of  the  cock's  comb  is  shaken  out  by 
alkaline  ether,  in  the  Keller  method,  and,  in  fact,  this  extract  seems 
to  be  more  active  than  the  original  fluidextract  of  ergot  itself ;  but 
the  mere  weighing  of  this  evaporated  residue  could  not  give  any 
absolute  idea  as  to  the  quantitative  activity  of  ergot,  because  of  the 
extraneous  matter  present.  It  seems  that  besides  the  active  alkaloid 
also  the  inactive  one  is  present  in  the  ether  extract,  and  interferes 
thus  with  the  results.3 
Barger  and  Dale4  believe  the  cornutine  of  Keller  to  be  a  mixture 
of  ergotinine  with  25  per  cent,  ergotoxine.  One  of  the  strong  argu- 
ments urged  by  Santesson  against  the  possibility  of  Keller's  cornu- 
tine being  the  active  principle  of  ergot  was  the  fact  that  in  old, 
presumably  inactive  ergots,  the  assay  for  cornutine  often  ran  rela- 
tively high.  This  now  can  be  explained,  as  we  know  the  active 
alkaloid  can  be  readily  converted  into  the  inactive  one  and  vice  versa. 
I  think  the  ideal  method  of  testing  preparations  would  be  to 
standardize  drugs  for  the  use  to  which  they  are  to  be  put  in  medi- 
cine. As  ergot. is  used  almost  entirely  to  promote  uterine  contrac- 
tions, under  these  conditions  the  satisfactory  tests  would  be  the 
standardization  by  its  action  on  the  uterus  of  some  of  the  lower 
animals. 
This  method  was  used  by  Diez  in  183 1.    I  have  collected  numer- 
1  Fere,  C.  Notesurune  hypertrophic  provoquee  de  l'ergot  de  coq.  Comp. 
rend.  hebd.  Soc.  de  Biol.,  1900,  Vol.  52,  p.  474. 
2  Dohme,  A.  R.  L.,  and  Crawford,  A.  C.  Active  Principle  of  Ergot.  Proc. 
Amer.  Pharm.  Assoc.,  Vol.  74,  p.  503.  1902. 
3  Santesson,  C.  G.  Ueber  die  Wirkung  des  Cornutin  Keller  und  einiger  an- 
derer  Secale-extracte.    Skand.  Arch.  f.  Physiol.,  Vol.  13,  p.  107.  1902. 
4  Barger,  G.,  and  Dale,  H.  H.  Ergotoxine  and  Some  Other  Constituents  of 
Ergot.    Sio-Chem.  Journ.,  Vol.  2,  p.  277.  1907. 
