Am.  Jour.  Pliarm.  \ 
August,  1883.  J 
Ergot  in  Delirium  Tremens. 
397 
dition  not  clearly  expressed  before;  but^  after  enumeration  of  the  other 
usual  conditions,  as  given  by  Guthrie,  Quin  remarks :  "  The  condi- 
tion, however,  which  has  the  greatest  effect  upon  the  size  of  the  drop 
is  the  interval  which  takes  place  between  the  successive  drops,  and 
called  by  Prof.  Guthrie  the  growth-time.'^ 
The  careful  experiments  by  Prof.  Guthrie  upon  the  influence  of  this 
condition  are  quoted,  with  his  conclusion  that,  "  on  the  whole,  the  law 
seems  to  be,  the  slower  the  dropping  the  smaller  the  drop.^'  This  was 
regarded  as  a  most  interesting  fact  to  the  pharmacist,  as  showing  "  the 
influence  of  rate  in  dispensing  drops.^' 
The  paper  of  Prof.  Guthrie  is  highly  commended  for  its  exhibition 
of  talents  and  patience  in  investigation,  and  this  enormous  and  evi- 
dently most  fruitful  field of  investigation  commended  to  him.  But 
although  growth-time  may  in  some  way  be  involved  in  the  degree  of 
fullness  of  the  bottle,  in  not  the  remotest  manner  is  the  latter  condition 
alluded  to. 
In  an  editorial  of  the  American  Journal  of  Pharmacy,  Feb.,  1877, 
vol.  49,  differences  in  size  of  drops,  of  from  30  to  100  per  cent.,  from 
the  same  vessel,  is  remarked  upon,  and  the  experiments  of  Durand, 
before  mentioned,  are  alluded  to. 
In  1880,  Talbot^  gives  an  account  of  experiments  upon  this  subject, 
alludes  to  those  of  Durand  and  Bernoulli,  and,  in  summing  up  his 
results,  gives  the  opinion  that  "  the  administration  of  powerful  medi- 
cines by  drops  is  always  dangerous,"  that  a  single  bottle  is  incon- 
stant "  as  to  size  of  drops,  that  "  cohesion  exerts  the  greatest  influence 
upon  the  bulk  of  drops,  temperature  very  little  effect,  and  rapidity  of 
dropping  almost  none," — the  last  conclusion  being  at  variance  with 
that  of  Guthrie,  previously  given. 
In  none  of  these  papers  has  the  condition  mentioned  and  illustrated 
in  my  note,  been  alluded  to. 
£rgot  in  Delirium  Tremens.— Dr.  Arnoldow  {Deutsche  Medicinal- 
Zeitung)  relates  the  case  of  a  man  suffering  from  haemoptysis,  who  was 
also  threatened  with  delirium  tremens.  Chloral  had  been  given  for  the 
sleeplessness,  but  without  effect.  Upon  the  administration  of  ergotin,  not 
only  did  the  hemorrhage  cease,  but  the  symptoms  of  alcoholism  also 
subsided.  This  happy  result  induced  the  author  to  give  ergot  in  several 
other  cases  of  mania-a-potu,  in  all  of  which  the  delirium  was  speedily 
controlled.  Dr.  Arnoldow  explains  this  action  by  the  contraction  of  the 
blood-vessels  of  the  brain  induced  by  ergot. — Amer.  Med.  Digest.,  March  15. 
*  Am.  Jour.  Phab.,  vol.  lii,  p.  337. 
