Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
Oct.,  1921. 
The  Cultivation  of  Ergot 
723 
Water- 
Classes  of  Foodstuff. 
Soluble  B  or 
Fat-Soluble  Antineuritic 
A  or  Anti-  (Antiberi- 
rachitic  Factor,    beri)  Factor. 
Antiscor- 
butic Factor. 
Miscellaneous: 
Yeast,  dried 
+  +  + 
+  +  + 
H-  in  some 
Yeast  extract  and  autolized  
? 
Malt  extract 
specimens 
None  of  the  three  factors  were  found  in : 
Lard. 
Olive,  cottonseed,  coconut  or  linseed  oils. 
Coco  butter. 
Hardened  fats,  animal  or  vegetable  in  origin. 
Margarin  from  vegetable  fats  or  lard. 
Cheese  from  skim  milk. 
Polished  rice,  white  wheaten  flour,  pure  cornflour,  etc. 
Custard  powders,  egg  substitutes,  prepared  from  cereal  products. 
Peaflour  (kilned). 
Meat  extract. 
Whether  ergot  can  be  successfully  cultivated  on  a  large  scale 
is  a  question  that  has  of  late  often  been  asked.  The  drug  was 
formerly  collected  chiefly  in  Russia  and  Galicia ;  smaller  quanti- 
ties came  from  Spain  and  Algeria,  but  very  little  from  Central 
and  Western  Europe.  The  present  scarcity  is  due  to  the  absence 
of  supplies  from  Russia  and  Galicia,  and  as  these  countries  will 
probably  not  export  any  for  a  considerable  time,  the  conditions  are 
favorable  for  the  attempt  at  cultivation  on  a  scale  sufficiently  large 
to 'allow  of  export. 
The  investigations  of  Tulasne  and  Kiihn  have  made  us  familiar 
with  the  life-history  of  ergot.  The  sclerotium  is  developed  in  the 
summer  in  the  inflorescence  of  certain  Graminaceous  plants  and  re- 
places the  ovary;  when  mature  it  falls  to  the  ground,  retaining  its 
vitality  until  the  following  spring.  Numbers  of  stromata  with  their 
characteristic  spherical  heads  then  develop  from  the  sclerotium.  In 
Beer. 
THE  CULTIVATION  OF  ERGOT  * 
*Abstracted  from  "Die  Kultur  des  Mutterkornes,"  by  Prof.  L.  Hecke, 
Vienna  {Schweiz.  Apoth.  Ztg.,  59,  p.  277).  Reprinted  from  Pharm.  Journ.  and 
Pharm. 
