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ERGOT, or SPURRED RYE

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Originally appearing in Volume V09, Page 738 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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ERGOT, or SPURRED See also:RYE , the See also:drug ergota or Secale cornutum (Ger. Mutterkorn; Fr. seigle ergote), consisting of the sclerotium (or hard resting See also:condition) of a fungus, Claviceps purpurea, parasitic on the pistils of many members of the Grass See also:family, but obtained almost exclusively from rye, Secale cereale. In the See also:ear of rye that is infected with ergot a See also:species of See also:fermentation takes See also:place, and there exudes from it a sweet yellowish mucus, which after a See also:time disappears. The ear loses its See also:starch, and ceases to grow, and its ovaries become penetrated with the See also:white spongy See also:tissue of the mycelium of the fungus which towards the end of the See also:season forms the sclerotium, in which See also:state the fungus lies dormant through the See also:winter. The drug consists of grains, usually curved (hence the name, from the O. Fr. argot, a See also:cock's See also:spur), which are See also:violet-See also:black or dark-See also:purple externally, and whitish with a tinge of See also:pink within, are between and 12 in. See also:long, and from r to 4 lines broad, and have two lateral furrows, a See also:close fracture, a disagreeable rancid See also:taste, and a faint, fishy odour, which last becomes more perceptible when the See also:powder of the drug is mixed with potash See also:solution. Ergot should be kept in stoppered bottles in See also:order to preserve it from the attacks of a species of See also:mite, and to prevent the oxidation of its fatty oil. The extremely complex See also:composition of this drug has been studied in See also:great detail, and with such important results that instead of giving ergot itself by the mouth in doses of 20 to 6o grains, it is now possible to obtain much more rapid and certain results by giving one three-hundredth of a See also:grain of one of its constituents hypodermically. This constituent is the See also:alkaloid cornutine, which is the valuable ingredient of the drug. Other ingredients are a fixed oil, See also:present to the extent of 30%, ergotinic See also:acid, a See also:glucoside, trimethylamine, which gives the drug its unpleasant odour, and sphacelinic acid, a non-nitrogenous resinoid See also:body. Of the numerous preparations only two need be mentioned—the liquid See also:extract (dose ro minims to 2 drachms or more), and the hypodermic injection. The latter does not keep well, and the best way of using ergot is to dissolve tablets obtained from a reputable maker, and containing some of the active principles, in pure See also:water, the solution being injected subcutaneously.

Ergot has no See also:

external See also:action. Given internally it stimulates the intestinal muscles and may cause See also:diarrhoea. After absorption it slows the See also:pulse by stimulation of the vagus nerves. It has indeed been asserted that the slow pulse characteristic of the puerperal See also:period is really due to the See also:common See also:administration of ergot at that time. This is probably an exaggeration. The important actions of ergot are on the See also:blood-vessels and the uterus. The drug greatly raises the blood-pressure by causing extreme contraction of the See also:arteries. This is mainly due to a See also:direct action on the See also:muscular coats of the vessels, but is also partly of central origin, since the drug also stimulates the vasomotor centre in the medulla oblongata. This action on the vessels is so marked as to constitute the drug a haemostatic, not only locally but also remotely. It may See also:arrest bleeding from the See also:nose, for instance, when injected hypodermically. Nearly all the constituents See also:share in causing this action, but the sphacelinic acid is probably the most potent. Ergot is the most powerful known stimulant of the pregnant uterus.

The action is a See also:

double one. At least four of its constituents See also:act directly on the muscular fibre of the uterus, whilst the cornutine acts through the nerves. Of great See also:practical importance is the fact that the cornutine causes rhythmic contractions such as naturally occur, whilst the sphacelinic acid produces a tonic contraction of the uterus, which is unnatural and highly inimical to the See also:life of the foetus. Ergot is used in See also:therapeutics as a haemostatic, and is very valuable in haemoptysis and sometimes in haematemesis. But its great use is in See also:obstetrics. The drug should regularly be given hypodermically, and it is important to See also:note that if the injection be made immediately under the skin, an See also:abscess, or considerable discomfort, may ensue. The injection should be See also:intra-muscular, the See also:needle being boldly plunged into a muscular See also:mass, such as that of the deltoid or the gluteal region. The indications for the use of ergot in obstetrics are highly complex and demand detailed treatment. It can only be said here that the drug should only in the rarest possible cases be given whilst the See also:child is still in utero. This See also:rule is necessitated by the sphacelinic acid, which causes an unnatural state of the See also:organ. When it is possible to obtain pure cornutine, which is unfortunately very expensive, the precautions necessary in other cases may be abrogated. Chronic poisoning, or ergotism, used frequently to occur amongst the poor fed on rye infected with the Claviceps.

As it is practically impossible to reproduce the symptoms of ergotism nowadays, whether experimentally in the See also:

lower animals, or when the drug is being administered to a human being for some therapeutic purpose, it is believed that the symptoms of ergotism were rendered possible only by the semi-See also:starvation which must have ensued from the use of such rye-See also:bread; for the grain disappears as the fungus develops. There were two types of ergotism. In the gangrenous See also:form various parts of the body underwent See also:gangrene as a consequence of the arrest of blood-See also:supply produced by the action of sphacelinic acid on the arteries. In the spasmodic form the symptoms were of a See also:nervous See also:character. The initial indications of the disease were cutaneous itching, tingling and formication, which gave place to actual loss of cutaneous sensation, first observed in the extremities. Amblyopia and some loss of See also:hearing also occurred, as well as See also:mental failure. With weakness of the voluntary muscles went intermittent - spasms which weakened the patient and ultimately led to See also:death by implication of the See also:respiratory muscles. The last-known " epidemic " of ergotism occurred in See also:Lorraine and See also:Burgundy in the See also:year 1816.

End of Article: ERGOT, or SPURRED RYE

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