160 
ON THE FLUID EXTRACT OF ERGOT. 
termed er otine) resided the active principle ; but this view has 
given place to the belief that while it possesses some activity, yet 
it is not the active principle. While this subject is invested with 
so much doubt, there seems to be but one proper course to pursue 
in making a preparation of the drug — that is, to make a medicine 
that will exactly represent ergot in its natural form. This the 
author has done. He was desirous of offering to the obstetrical 
practitioner a medicine that will relieve the latter of the difficulty 
he has labored under when prescribing ergot, caused by the un- 
certainty of the drug itself, (owing to age or other cause,) or of 
weak preparations made from, probably, an equally uncertain ar- 
ticle. In fulfilment of this desire the fluid extract is offered. It 
is prepared by treating fresh and good ergot in powder, first with 
ether, allowing the latter to evaporate spontaneously , thus securing 
all the oil ; then with alcohol, and lastly with water; the last two 
liquids are evaporated below 212° until the fluid measures one- 
third as many fluid ounces as the ergot employed weighed in troy 
ounces ; sufficient sugar is added to preserve it, and the oil is then 
thoroughly incorporated, and sufficient water added to render it of 
such strength that one fluid drachm (one teaspoonful) will repre- 
sent 40 grains or about two doses of ergot. 
Prepared as above, fluid extract of ergot is in the form of a con- 
centrated syrup, possessing the advantages of being pleasant to 
take, of being always ready for use, thus avoiding the delay some- 
times attendant upon administering a medicine where delay is so 
hazardous as in labor. The smallness of the dose is another re- 
commendation in its favor. The writer believes that it will keep 
unchanged for a long time. Some in his possession, after having 
been kept for about two months in a moderately warm situation, is 
entirely unchanged. Some of this preparation was furnished to 
Dr. C. S. Mills of this city, who tested it in a case of labor about 
the middle of November. He informs the writer that it proved 
entire satisfactory; its action was almost immediate and produced 
no nausea. — Stethoscope, Jan, 1852. 
