620 
Pressed  Ergot. 
Am.  Jour.  Pharni., 
Dec  ,  1885. 
mucli  finer.  It  lias  the  cliaracteristic  smell  of  ergot,  and  certainly 
seems  no  worse  for  age.  Another  specimen  of  the  cake,  kindly  sent 
me  by  Mr.  Holmes  from  the  Museum,  had  when  received  a  stronger 
smell  and  appeared  to  be  not  quite  so  dry.  It  had  been  kept  in  a 
bottle  and  evidently  sweated  there.  Neither  specimen  showed  signs 
of  insect  life,  but  of  the  two  modes  of  keeping,  to  let  it  lie  in  paper 
seems  the  best.  The  cake  readily  breaks  down  with  hot  water  and 
absorbs  three  or  four  times  its  own  weight.  It  is  convenient  also  for 
disintegration  by  a  grater,  should  it  be  desired  to  administer  the 
powder. 
Oil  in  Pressed  Ergot. — It  may  be  convenient  to  mention  here  that 
in  order  to  reply  to  questions  which  were  put  when  the  pressed  cake 
was  first  exhibited  at  Bloomsbury  Square  in  1879,  the  oil  was  extracted 
by  ether  from  100  grains  of  it  reduced  to  powder,  and  when  dried  was 
found  to  weigh  13'7  grains;  this  with  the  12  5  grains  removed  by 
pressure  makes  26*2  per  cent ,  and  what  was  absorbed  by  the  pressing 
clotlis  will  make  up  the  oil  to  the  normal  quantity  present  in  ergot, 
about  30  per  cent.  By  operating  with  special  appliances,  such  as  are 
used  by  oil  pressers,  more  oil  could  be  removed  from  the  cake  than  my 
experiments  show,  and,  working  on  a  larger  scale,  the  proportion 
absorbed  by  the  cloths  would  be  smaller. 
Liquid  Extract. — In  order  that  the  liquid  extract  from  pressed  ergot 
might  compare  on  all  fours  with  the  ordinary  preparation,  the  increased 
richness  of  the  cake,  as  compared  with  ergot,  from  removal  of  inert 
oil  by  pressure  and  loss  of  moisture  by  long  ex])osure  in  a  dry  ware- 
house, must  be  taken  into  account.  No  actual  observation  of  the  ori- 
ginal weight  of  the  cake  would  appear  to  liave  been  made,  but  an  esti- 
mated loss  of  6  per  cent,  for  moisture,  plus  16  per  cent,  of  oil  ascer- 
tained, will  not  unduly  favor  the  cake.  Working  on  this  basis,  half 
a  })ound  of  pressed  ergot  was  used  to  make  lOJ  fluidounces  of  liquid 
extract.  A  specimen  of  this  is  on  the  table,  and  on  examination  it 
will  be  perceived  that  it  has  the  characteristic  odor  and  taste  of  ergot 
in  a  greatly  modified  degree.  It  is  also  paler  and  has  not  the  body  of 
the  extract  as  ordinarily  prepared.  This  is  no  doubt  due  in  part  to 
extractive  being  carried  awuy  in  the  oil  during  pressing,  and  possibly 
also  partly  due  to  long  exposure  having  rendered  some  extractive  insol- 
uble. Be  that  as  it  may,  it  may  in  a  measure  account  for  the  preference 
which  patients  give  it  over  ordinary  extract  as  intimated  below. 
Potency. — The  liquid  extract  was  placed  in  the  hands  of  my  friend, 
