Am.  Jour.  Pharm. ) 
Jan.,  1883.  j 
Preparations  of  Ergot. 
9 
large  grain  Spanish^  which,  though  commanding  a  greater  price,  is  to 
be  preferred  when  it  can  be  obtained  fresh  and  free  from  worms.  This 
ergot  presents  a  dark  pearl  color,  and  when  of  good  quality  should 
present  a  smooth  fracture  with  a  curved  violet  line;  it  must  not  be 
spongy  or  yellowish.  The  preservation  of  ergot  is  rather  difficult, 
particularly  of  the  powdered,  and  different  means  have  been  devised 
to  prevent  it  becoming  worm  eaten,  etc.,  such  as  heating  before  bottling, 
and  addition  of  camphor,  ether  and  chloroform.  Hager  has  proposed: 
PuLVis  Ergots  Purificatus,  which  is  prepared  as  follows  :  Ergot 
in  coarse  powder  is  first  exhausted  of  its  fixed  oil,  by  means  of  percolation 
with  deodorized  benzin,  it  is  then  extracted  with  strong  alcohol  which 
displaces  the  benzin  and  takes  up  about  2  or  3  per  cent,  of  a  black 
resinous  matter  and  the  poisonous  alkaloid  ergotinina.  The  alcohol  is 
recovered  by  distillation,  and  the  ergot  is  spread  out  in  shallow  pans 
set  in  a  warm  place  so  that  any  remaining  odor  of  benzin  may  be 
dissipated.  The  original  process  consists  only  in  freeing  the  ergot  from 
the  fixed  oil,  but  the  subsequent  percolation  with  alcohol  is  desirable, 
as  it  displaces  the  greater  portion  of  the  benzin,  extracts  the  asphalt- 
like resin,  thus  rendering  the  ergot  more  readily  exhausted  with  water, 
and  deprives  it  of  the  poisonous  principle.  The  purified  ergot  thus 
obtained  loses  from  25  to  30  per  cent,  in  weight,  and  is  therefore  of 
correspondingly  greater  strength  than  the  crude  drug.  Unlike  the 
ordinary  powdered  ergot,  this  article  can  be  preserved  in  glass-stoppered 
bottles  for  any  reasonable  length  of  time,  according  to  the  writer's  expe- 
rience, owing  probably  to  the  fact  that  it  does  not  contain  any  ergotinina 
to  the  decomposition  of  which  the  rapid  spoiling  of  ergot  is  due.  The 
coarse  powder  will  be  found  very  convenient  for  the  preparation  of 
wine,  infusion,  etc.,  and  the  finely  pulverized  can  be  administered  in 
substance.  The  petroleum  benzin  used  in  this  process  is  the  commercial 
sp.  gr.  716.  The  mode  of  deodorizing  it  is  as  follows  :  To  the  benzin  add 
gradually  with  agitation  about  3  per  cent,  sulphuric  acid  diluted  with 
an  equal  quantity  of  water ;  after  standing  decant  from  the  black 
tarry  residue.  Wash  the  benzin  with  water  to  which  has  been  added 
sufficient  carbonate  of  soda  to  neutralize  the  acid,  decant  and  then 
w^ash  repeatedly  the  benzin,  lastly  separate  carefully  from  the  w^ater  or 
distil.  This  yields  a  product  possessing  very  little  taste  or  ordor,  and 
will  be  found  very  useful  in  the  labratory  and  for  domestic  use. 
Oil  of  Ergot. — The  yield  of  fixed  oil  from  ergot  ranges  trom  25 
to  30  per  cent.    It  is  very  heavy,  dark-brown  in  color,  almost  odorless, 
