25S 
ON ERGOTIN. 
ART. LX. — NOTE ON ERGOTIN. 
By Augustine Duhamel. 
Read at the Pharmaceutical Meeting, November 6th, 1843. 
The accompanying specimen of a substance termed Er. 
gotin is submitted to the inspection of the Society, as the 
product of an experiment upon Mr. Bonjean's process, pub- 
lished in the last number of our Journal. A few remarks 
are at the same time offered, as serving to fill up the void 
occasioned by the want of details in Mr. B.'s directions for 
obtaining this substance. The occasion is also seized upon 
to bring in contrast two substances of opposite character, to 
both of which the same name has been assigned. The term 
Ergot in has been applied to two different principles con- 
tained in the Ergot; one supposed to possess all the poison- 
ous properties, — the other, the anti-hemorrhagic action of 
that article. 
It was first given by Mr. Wiggers (see Chemical researches 
upon Ergot, published in the Annates de P/iarmacie, Vol. 
i., 1831) to a red powder obtained from Ergot finely re- 
duced, and previously exhausted of its fixed oil by ether; 
by the action of boiling alcohol, and evaporation to the con- 
sistence of an extract; this extract, which is of a reddish- 
brown color and granulated, is then treated with water, 
which separates the soluble and larger part, leaving behind 
the insoluble portion. This last, the Ergotin, exhibits the 
following characters; — " It gives a reddish-brown powder 
of a peculiar nauseous odor, developed more particularly by 
heat; bitter taste and a slight acridity. It is neither acid 
nor alkaline; is insoluble in water and ether, but readily so- 
luble in alcohol, furnishing a reddish-brown solution, and 
giving rise to a cloud of the same color by the addition of 
water; is discolored by chlorine, and dissolved by caustic 
