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ELEMENTS OF MATERIA MEDICA.

and sometimes continued for several days after its cessation. The cerebral disorder is frequently preceded by tlie uterine contractions, aliausually remains for some time after these have subsided.

y. Effects of ergot on the circulatory system. —I have known increasedfrequency and fulness of pulse, copious perspiration, and flushed counte-nance, follow the use of ergot during parturition. But in some instancesthe opposite effect has been induced: the pulse has been greatlydiminished in both frequency and fulness, and the face has become livid-In one case, mentioned by Dr. Cusack (Dr. Maunsell, Lond. Med. GaS-xiv. 606), the pulse was reduced from 120 to 90. Dr. Maunsell hasreferred to four other cases. These effects on the circulatory systemwere accompanied w-itli cerebral disorder, of which they were probablyconsequences. Similar observations as to the power of ergot to diminishthe frequency of the pulse have been noticed by others (MerriniamSynopsis, pp. 201 and 203, 1838; Trousseau and Pidoux, Traite &Therap. i. 547).

$. Other effects of ergot. —Nausea and vomiting are not uncommonconsequences of the exhibition of ergot when the stomach is in a»irritable condition. Various other symptoms have been ascribed to th euse of ergot, such as weariness of the limbs and itching of the skm(Trousseau and Pidoux, op. cit. i. 547). ,

2. Effects produced by the continued use of ergot as an article of foff(Ergotism , Fr.; Raphania, Linn. Vog. Cull. Good ; Convulsio raphanifi’and Eclampsia typhodes, Sauv.; Morbus spasmodicus, Rotlim.; MorbU*convulsivus, malignus, epidemicus, cerealis, fyc. Alt.; Kriebelkrankhet >or the creeping sickness, Germ.)—Different parts of the continent, e- S'France (especially in the district of Sologne), Silesia, Prussia , Bolienu a ’Saxony, Denmark, Switzerland, and Sweden , have been, at varioperiods, visited with a dangerous epidemic (known by the names abo'mentioned), which affected, at the same time, whole districts of country’attacking persons of both sexes and of all ages (Tissot, Phil. Trans.

55 ; Rothman, Amcen. Acad. vi. 430). So long back as 1597 (Tissothe use of ergotized rye was thought to be the cause of it. Various c 1 ^cumstanccs have appeared to prove the correctness of this opin 10 ^

(MemTde la Soc. Roy. de Med. i. 1777), which has been further c° B efirmed by the effects of ergot on animals, as well as by the occurrcn^.of a disease similar to, if not identical with, ergotism, in consequencethe use of damaged wheat (Phil. Trans, for 1762). Yet, several int el ^gent writers have not acquiesced in this view; and the circumstancmentioned by Trousseau ( Traite de Therap. i. 527), and by Dr. Ham^(Pract. Observ. relat. to Midiv. pt. ii. p. 85), are certainly calculatedthrow some doubts over the usually received opinion. . . j

Ergotism assumes two types, the one of which has been denomin a . gethe convulsive, the other the gangrenous ergotism. Whether these an^from different conditions of the ergot, or from peculiarities on the Pof the patient, or from the different quantity of the ergot taken, ' v ° ^hardly prepared now to say. In convulsive ergotism the symptomsweariness, giddiness, contraction of the muscles of the extremities^^mication, dimness of sight, loss of sensibility, voracious appetite, > e g1l scountenance, and convulsions, followed by death. In the 9 a fbl re jfergotism there is also experienced formication, that is, a feeling aJJ Jinsects were creeping over the skin, voracious appetite, coldness