174 
Keeping  Qualities  of  Ergot. 
(Am.  Jour,  riiarm. 
\       April,  1911. 
It  is  a  common  belief  among  pharmacists  that  the  fluid  extract 
of  ergot  is  much  more  permanent  than  the  drug  itself,  but  a  series 
of  experiments  which  were  carried  out  by  Dr.  Hofer  and  myself  has 
convinced  me  that  it  is  a  preparation  which  cannot  be  kept  indefi- 
nitely. Whether  it  deteriorates  more  rapidly  or  less  rapidly  than  the 
drug  itself,  I  am  not  prepared  to  state,  but  I  am  satisfied  that  a  fluid 
extract  should  not  be  kept  more  than  a  year  under  any  conditions. 
We  investigated  the  problem  of  the  influences  which  tended  to 
hasten  undesirable  changes  in  the  fluid  extract  of  ergot  in  the  follow- 
ing manner :  Each  sample  of  fluid  extract  of  ergot  as  it  was  received 
from  the  maker  was  divided  into  three  portions,  one  of  which  was 
immediately  placed  in  an  amber  colored  bottle  which  was  com- 
pletely filled  so  as  to  exclude  any  air,  and  hermetically  sealed.  The 
second  portion  was  placed  in  a  wide-mouthed  container  which  was 
simply  stoppered  with  cotton  so  as  to  keep  out  the  dust,  in  this 
manner  allowing  free  exposure  to  atmospheric  influences,  alcohol 
being  added  from  time  to  time  as  it  evaporated  from  the  fluid 
extract.  The  third  portion  was  kept  in  the  bottle  in  which  it  was 
received  from  which,  from  time  to  time,  small  amounts  would  be 
removed  for  experimental  purposes,  the  cork  being  replaced  each 
time,  in  this  way  closely  simulating  the  conditions  in  the  ordinary 
pharmacy.  It  may  be  noted  that  these  bottles  were  kept  at  room 
temperature  and  many  of  them  through  the  summer.  The  follow- 
ing table  shows  the  average  loss  per  week  of  sphacelotoxin  when 
assayed  by  the  method  described  by  me.  (American  Journal  of 
Pharmacy,  May,  1909,  page  215.) 
I  have  included  also  the  figures  obtained  by  Griinfeld  for  crude 
ergot.  As  we  found  that  the  rate  of  deterioration  was  not  constant, 
I  have  divided  the  table  into  two  portions,  the  first  of  which  gives 
the  average  loss  of  all  the  samples  which  were  kept  for  from  five  to 
fifteen  weeks,  and  the  second,  those  which  were  kept  sixteen  to 
twenty-five  weeks. 
5-15  weeks 
16-25  weeks 
Open 
Corked 
Sealed 
Griinfeld 
6.4%  loss  per  week 
2.5%  loss  per  week 
1.5%     "     "  " 
1.3%  "  "  " 
3-5%     "     "  " 
2.6% 
1.6% 
6.2% 
In  the  paper  published  by  Doctor  Hofer  and  myself  {Archives 
of  Internal  Medicine,  October,  1910,  page  388),  we  have  brought 
