THE 
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHARMACY 
APRIL, 1852. 
AN ANALYSIS OF ERGOT OF RYE. 
[Being a?i Inaugural Thesis presented to the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy.) 
By T. Roberts Baker, of Richmond, Virginia. 
In selecting Ergot as the subject of my thesis, it was with no 
intention of entering into an account of the natural, botanical, or 
commercial history of the article, which would be a mere repetition 
of what is contained in every standard work on Materia Medica ; 
but with a view of adding a few more links to the chain of scien- 
tific information already acquired in relation to its chemical con- 
stitution. 
By thus lifting a little higher the veil of obscurity which has so 
long impeded the claims of Ergot as an eligible therapeutical 
agent, and bringing some of its hidden properties within the grasp 
of the practical pharmaceutist, it may become entitled to a higher 
rank in therapeutical Materia Medica. Some of the most promi- 
nent questions which remain to be definitely settled in regard to 
Ergot are these : 
1. As to its origin, whether it is an excrescence produced by 
an insect, or a true member of the fungus tribe ? 
2. Whether it contains one or more characteristic principles in 
which the active medicinal properties reside 1 
3. How such a principle can be isolated 1 
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