Am,  Jour.  Pharm.  | 
April,  1911.  / 
Active  Principle  of  Ergot. 
157 
then  filtered  and  distilled  in  a  weighed  vessel.  After  treating  with 
ether  and  exaporating,  the  residue  is  weighed.  The  cornutin  con- 
tent of  six  samples  of  ergot  varied  from  0.095  to  0.225  P^^  cent. 
According  to  Dohme,  German  ergot  as  occurring  on  the  American 
market  assays  at  0.15  per  cent.,  Spanish  ergot  at  0.29  per  cent.,  and 
Russian  ergot  at  0.18  per  cent. 
On  frogs  (R.  Esculenta),  Santesson  "'^  tested  this  cornutin  in 
doses  of  1-20  mg.,  and  as  no  convulsions  were  produced,  inferred 
that  it  was  therefore  different  from  the  cornutin  of  Kobert,  but 
Palm  has  shown  that  0.005  g'^'^^-  of  cornutin  obtained  from  certain 
ergots  by  Kobert's  method  failed  to  produce  convulsions  in  frogs. 
Meulenhoff  reported  a  similar  experience.  Evidently  the  con- 
vulsive action  of  Robert's  body  must  be  due  to  some  accidentally 
present  body  which  may  not  necessarily  be  present  in  all  ergot 
preparations.  Santesson  claimed  that  in  pregnant  rabbits  Keller's 
cornutin  failed  to  produce  any  uterine  action  save  in  toxic  doses. 
Santesson's  failure  to  produce  a  rise  in  blood  pressure  in  rodents 
with  cornutin  does  not  argue  against  the  presence  of  a  blood- 
pressure-raising  principle,  as  rodents  are  especially  insensitive  to 
this  action.  Santesson,  by  injecting  5  mg.  intravenously  into  cocks, 
produced  a  rise  in  blood  pressure,  while  15-25  mg.  injected 
hypodermically  into  these  animals  produced  a  marked  discoloration 
of  the  comb. 
One  of  the  objections  urged  by  Santesson  against  Keller's 
work,  is  that  Keller's  analysis  of  an  ergot  preserved  for  two  years, 
showed  a  relatively  large  percentage  of  cornutin.  Ergots  long 
preserved  are  considered  inactive,  but  the  clinical  work  of  Bischof- 
berger  indicated  that  two  and  three  year  old  ergot  still  caused  uterine 
contractions however,  one  must  be  careful  in  interpreting  clinical 
experiments.  Unfortunately  Keller  failed  to  control  his  analysis 
with  physiological  tests.  Tanret  a  few  years  previous  had  pointed 
out  that  although  the  alkaloidal  content  of  old  ergot  diminished,  it 
was  mainly  the  crystalline  alkaloid  which  was  lessened.  The  truth 
of  the  matter  probably  is  that  by  Keller's  method  more  than  one 
alkaloid  is  extracted — a  view  which  Keller  later  adopted. Keller 
made  no  analysis  of  his  cornutin — of  itself  a  suggestion  that  he  was 
not  sure  of  its  chemical  purity. 
Several  years  ago  the  writer  examined  the  ]3roducts  obtained 
during  the  various  stages  of  the  Keller-assay  method  and  found  in 
the  alkaline-ether-''  shaking "  apparently  all  the  principles  which 
