220 ON THE PREPARATION OF ERGOTINE. 
By this process, a very homogeneous, soft extract is ob- 
tained, of a reddish-brown color, and of an agreeable odor 
of roast meat, owing to the presence of ozmazome, and of a 
slightly piquant and bitter taste, resembling more or less 
that of spoiled wheat. It forms, with water, a beautiful red 
solution, perfectly transparent. 500 grammes of ergot afford 
from 70 to SO grms. of extract. 
Ergotine is a true specific against haemorrhage in general. 
It is well known to what inconveniences the use of ergotiz- 
ed rye in medicine was subject; such, indeed, that it was 
talked of banishing for ever, from therapeutics, this valuable 
agent, because its good virtues were accompanied with an 
energetic poison, which it was necessary to guard against. 
At present, four years of research have enabled me to explain 
the whole matter; and nothing is now more easy than to se- 
parate from ergot the two principles which it contains, which 
differ entirely in their mode of action, since the one, the 
ergotine, acts principally on the arterial membranes, while 
the other, the oil, exerts its action on the nervous centres. 
The immediate effects which it produces in the most vio- 
lent metrorrhagia, will strike every one who shall have 
tried my ergotine; the most violent vomitings of blood give 
way in a very little time to its employment, and relapses 
are generally rare, especially when the precaution has been 
taken to continue its employment a certain time after cessa- 
tion of the symptoms. To be convinced, moreover, that 
the ergotine is the obstetrical principle, it suffices to treat 
the powder of ergot by ether in a displacement apparatus, as 
long as any soluble matter is taken up by this liquid. In this 
manner, the whole of the poison, that is, the whole of the 
oil of ergot and the resin, are removed, and there remains a 
powder no longer greasy, but gritty like sand; without bad 
taste ; without any poisonous action, and which excites 
powerfully the uterine contractions, in doses of from 0.4 
grms, to 0.5 grms., in all cases of inertia of the matrice, 
