346 
ON  MYCOSE,  THE  SUGAR  OF  ERGOT  OP  RYE. 
ON  MYCOSE.  THE  SUGAE  OF  ERGOT  OF  RYE. 
By  Prof.  Mitscherlich. 
By  extracting  ergot  of  rye  with  ether,  boiling  it  with  alcohol, 
evaporating  the  alcoholic  solution,  dissolving  the  residue  in  water, 
evaporating  these  solutions  to  the  thickness  of  an  extract,  and 
leaving  them  to  stand  for  a  long  time,  Wiggers  obtained  crystals 
which  he  declared  to  be  a  peculiar  sugar.  Perhaps  Pettenkofer 
had  already  obtained  these  crystals,  and  regarded  them  as  phos- 
phate of  morphia.  Wiggers  gave  some  of  these  crystals  to  Lie- 
big  and  Pelouze,  who  analyzed  them ;  from  his  description  and 
their  analyses,  made  with  a  portion  which  was  not  quite  pure, 
they  concluded  that  these  crystals  were  mannite.  As  the  form 
of  some  crystals  which  the  author  obtained  from  Wiggers  was 
different  from  that  of  mannite  and  the  other  known  sugars,  he 
prepared  this  sugar  in  considerable  quantity,  when  its  peculiar- 
ity was  confirmed,  and  as  it  stands  in  elose  relation  to  the  other 
substances  of  the  saccharine  group,  and  when  its  properties  are 
better  known  will  certainly  be  found  more  abundantly  than  is 
the  case  with  mannite  and  inosite,  it  was  submitted  to  an  accu- 
rate examination. 
This  sugar  is  best  obtained  when  the  ergot  is  finely  powdered 
and  extracted  with  water ;  the  filtered  fluid  is  precipitated  with 
basic  acetate  of  lead,  with  which  the  sugar  gives  no  precipitate, 
the  excess  of  oxide  of  lead  is  removed  from  the  filtered  fluid  by 
sulphuretted  hydrogen,  and  the  fluid  is  evaporated  to  the  con- 
sistence of  a  syrup  in  the  water-bath.  If  a  sample  leaves  a  re- 
sidue when  dissolved  in  water,  the  whole  is  again  dissolved,  fil- 
tered, and  evaporated;  the  concentrated  fluid  is  allowed  to  stand 
for  a  long  time,  when  crystals  are  formed  in  it,  and  when  their 
quantity  no  longer  increases,  the  adherent  fluid  is  removed  by 
washing  with  alcohol,  in  which  the  sugar  is  insoluble.  By  re- 
peated solution  in  water  and  crystallization,  the  crystals  are  ob- 
tained colorless  and  transparent,  with  smooth,  readily  measura- 
ble surfaces,  and  of  a  remarkable  lustre,  when  the  sugar  is  dis- 
solved in  boiling  dilute  alcohol,  and  the  solution  is  left  to  cool. 
2  kilogrammes  of  ergot  gave  2  grms.  of  sugar  ;  the  ergot  of 
1856  gave  no  sugar  in  repeated  experiments  with  variation  of 
the  processes ;  in  one  case  mannite  was  obtained,  but  in  this 
