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SELECTED ARTICLES. 
its black coat, so as to remove all the particles that adhere to 
its surface, then to make some very thin transverse slices, and 
put them on a slip of glass under the microscope: and when 
water is added to them, it speedily becomes turbid or milky, 
from the quantity of particles that have escaped from the sec- 
tions; these particles, however, are not heavier than the wa- 
ter, as those on the exterior of the ergot are, but are lighter, 
and collect on the surface, from whence they can be removed 
like cream from the surface of milk. When magnified, these 
particles are found to be of vastly many sizes, some as large as 
l-1000th of an inch in diameter, others so small as to be bare- 
ly visible when viewed to the extent that optical powers can 
assist us, and appear, when magnified, l-1000th linear, very 
like the globules in human milk. When the water in which 
the slices have been placed is heated, these minute globules 
liquefy and run together, forming either very large globules 
or numerous irregular masses; their primary form, by this 
operation, being completely disturbed, which would not have 
been the case had they been "seminules," or reproductive 
agents, as Philippar imagined. To observe the structure of 
the ergot, make some thin slices, then boil them in ether, which 
dissolves the fatty matter, and makes their structure become 
visible, which is to all appearances irregularly cellular, and not 
fibrous. 
Another argument against the ergot being a complete fun- 
gus is, that the particles which are its reproductive agents are 
most numerous when it is young, and it continues its growth 
after their production has ceased, which is contrary to the usual 
law amongst this class of vegetable productions; for their efforts 
to live are only to develope the means for propagation, dying, 
as it were, the instant this action has been accomplished. 
Besides these, Vauquelin's chemical analysis proves its dis- 
similarity in composition with the Fungaceje, and even with 
Sclerotium — a genus of that order to which the ergot was as- 
signed by Fee and De Candolle— by containing very different 
constituents, which are the following : — 
Coloring matter, soluble in alcohol. 
White oil, very abundant, sweet. 
