ERGOT OF RYE.

601

effect than that their milk gave a bad caseous cream, which did notyield good butter. These statements furnish another proof to thetoxicologist that the ruminants suffer less from vegetable poisons thanother mammals.

Another interesting topic of inquiry is the action of ergot on the gravidul erus of mammals. Chapman ( Elem . of Therap. i. 489, 4tli ed.) says, “ it"ever fails, in a short time, to occasion abortion.” We have the testimony°f Percy and Laurent, that a decoction injected into the veins of a cowcaused the animal to calve speedily; and in one out of three experiments,ylr. Combes has stated, the ergot caused the abortion of a bitch (Neal,* e searches respect. Spur or Ergot of Rye , p. 90). Diez (Phoebus, p.o6) found that it caused uterine contractions in dogs, rabbits, and sows,^rge doses given to bitches induced an intlammatory condition of the"toms, and destroyed both mother and her young. However, in oppo-?"ion to these statements, we have the evidence of Chatard, Warner,dleneuve, and others, who failed in producing abortion with it (Neal,°P- cit.)

. 1 am indebted to Mr. Youatt, Professor of Veterinary Surgery toniversity College, Veterinary Surgeon to the Zoological Society, andditor of the Veterinarian , for the following note respecting the effects1 «got on animals:—

_ I have, for the last six or seven years, been in the habit of adminis-rin g the ergot of rye to quadrupeds in cases of difficult or protractedItoturition, in order to stimulate the uterus to renewed or increasedc hon. In the monogastric, if I may venture to use the term, I havei tor known it fail of producing considerable effect, even when the uterus^ been previously exhausted by continued and violent efforts. In theinant, with its compound stomach or stomachs, I have witnessedtl] an y a case of its successful exhibition. I have had recourse to it ine c °w, the sheep, and the deer, both foreign and domestic. Parturition"°t always been accomplished, from false presentation or other causes,1 the uterus has in every case responded—it has been roused to aatur or ^ ess degree °f renewed action. On the other hand, there arey ' recorded by veterinary practitioners, in which it has been given inlarge quantities without producing the slightest effect. I haveV a ys attributed this to a certain degree of forgetfulness of the construc-of the stomachs of ruminants. If the medicine, as is too often thet) ls poured hastily down, and from a large vessel, it breaks throughtola-•°° r ^ ie ODSophagcan canal and falls into the rumen, and there it(j, s a " ls perfectly inert. But if it is suffered to trickle down the8to , a goan canal, although a portion of it may still enter the rumen, thejjj^tor p ar t will flow on through the cesopliagean canal and theqjj/yplto.s into the fourth or villous stomach, and produce the desired

man. —These may be noticed under two heads: 1, effects ofj "doses; 2, effects of its continued use as an article of food.

^ single or a few doses .— Ilertvvig (Sundelin, Heilmittell. i. 513,'toil ; ■ ’ Lorinser ( Edin. Med. and Surg. Journ. xxvi. 453), Jbrg (Ge-l0 6 ) Reizm. z. lieford. d. Geburt. 1833), and Diez (Phoebus, op. cit." * 10 have endeavoured to ascertain the effects of ergot by experi-

lionCi toe

‘tot .... „

’ d g_ree in slating that, in doses of from half a drachm to two drachms,

a > niclination to vomit, dryness of the throat, great thirst, aversion