Aru.  Jour.  Pharm.  \ 
April,  1886.  J 
Ergot  of  Diss. 
203 
shall  be  uniform  in  alkaloidal  strength,  it  is  necessary  to  determine 
by  experiment  the  kind  and  quantity  of  the  solvent  which  should  be 
used.    This  we  hope  to  be  able  to  do. 
This  extract  contains  in  addition  to  the  alkaloids  atropine  and 
hyoscyamine,  chrysatropic  acid,  C12H10O5,  probably  a  naphthalene 
derivative  which  causes  alkaline  solutions  of  the  extract  to  have  a 
distinct  fluorescence  (Kunz,  Arch.  Pharm.,  [3].  xxiii.,  722).  It  also 
contains  much  dextrose,  and  we  have  recently  obtained  evidence  of 
the  presence  of  another  alkaloid,  which  is  being  further  investigated. 
— Phar.  Jour,  and  Trans.,  March  13,  1886,  p.  777. 
ERGOT  OF  DISS. 
By  E.  M.  Holmes,  F.  L.  S., 
Curator  of  the  Museum  of  the  Pharmaceutical  Society. 
During  the  last  month  a  fine  specimen  of  this  ergot  attached  to  its 
host  plant,  was  presented  by  Professor  Leon  Soubeiran,  of  Mont- 
pellier.  At  the  present  time,  when  ergot  has  doubled  in  price,  this 
variety  seems  to  demand  a  fuller  notice  than  was  given  of  it  some 
years  ago  in  the  Report  on  the  Materia  Medica  of  the  Paris  Exhibi- 
tion (Phar.  Jour.  [3],  ix,  p.  84). 
The  ergot  of  diss  derives  its  name  from  the  reed  on  which  it  grows, 
Ampelodesmos  tenax,  Link,  which  is  called  diss  by  the  Arabs  of  Algeria. 
The  plant  is  very  common  on  all  the  literal  region  of  Algeria,  and  is 
found  also  in  Corsica,  Sicily  and  Italy. 
It  is  known  to  botanists  by  the  following  synonyms :  Arundo 
ampelodesmos,  Cyr.  Neap. ;  Arundo  festueoides,  Desf. ;  Arundo  mauri- 
tanica,  Poir. ;  Arundo  tenax,  Wahl;  Donax  tenax,  Pal.  de  Beau.  It 
is  figured  in  Desf.  "Atlas,"  I,  t.  xxiv. ;  Cyr.  Neap.,  t.  xii. 
The  plant  grows  from  6  to  10  feet  high,  and  has  a  spreading  or 
turfy  habit  of  growth.  The  panicles  are  elongated,  somewhat  inter- 
rupted and  pendulous,  or  curved  towards  the  summit.  The  leaves 
are  very  tough,  straight,  elongated  and  channelled,  and  acute  at  the 
apex,  the  upper  surface  and  the  margin  being  rough  to  the  touch. 
The  rhizome  has  recently  been  introduced  into  use  in  homoeopathic 
medicine.  The  ergot,  which  is  found  on  this  plant,  was  first  detected 
in  1842  by  M.  Durieu  de  Maisonneuve,  a  member  of  the  Scientific 
Commission  of  Algeria.  It  differs  from  ergot  of  rye  in  being  barely 
half  its  diameter,  but  twice  or  thrice  its  length.    It  varies,  however, 
