ERGOT OF RYE.

C07.

c enta presentations, a dose or two of ergot may be administered pre-viously to the delivery being undertaken (Dr. F. II. Ilainsbotliam, Lond.Med. Gaz. xiv. C60). To restrain excessive discharge of the lochia or°f the catamenia, this remedy is sometimes most beneficial.

6. To provoice abortion. —Under certain circumstances the practitionerfinds it expedient to produce abortion : as in serious hemorrhage duringPregnancy, and in deformed pelves which do not admit the passage of afull-grown fcetus. In such cases the ergot may be employed with greatadvantage (Dr. F. H. Ramsbotham, Lond. Med. Gaz. xiv. 434 ; also, Dr.'veihe, in op. cit. vol. xviii. 543). When abortion has already com-menced, ergot may be employed, to quicken the process and checkhemorrhage.

7. In leucorrhcea and gonorrhoea. —Ergot was first given in leucorrhoeahy Dr. M. Hall {Lond. Med. and Phys. Journ. May 1829); and wasSubsequently employed by Dr. Spajrani {Lancet, Feb. 5th, 1831) withRecess; and in eight cases by Dr. Bazzoni {Bayle, p. 509), seven ofuiese were cured by it. Dr. Negri {Lond. Med. Gaz. xiii. p. 369)Published seven successful cases of its uso. Its efficacy has beenc °ufirmed by many other practitioners. Dr. Negri also used it withapparent benefit in gonorrhoea, in both the male and female. He con-P'udes that “ secale comutum has a peculiar action on the mucous mem-

fanes; but if exhibited when there is a state of acute inflammation,

1 >e ir morbid secretions may be considerably increased; on the contrary,"hen a more chronic form of inflammation does exist, the secale comutumhave a beneficial influence in arresting their preternatural discharge.”8- In hemorrhages generally. —The power possessed by ergot of® Xc iting uterine contractions, readily explains the efficacy of this agent in.^training sanguineous discharges from the womb; but we can in noJ| a y understand how hemorrhage from other organs can be influenced by' We are not, however, to deny the therapeutic power of a medicine

• erely because we cannot explain its modus medendi, though we areRifled in requiring abundant proofs ere we admit it. It must be

• hnowledged, that a considerable number of cases have been published"Proof of the power possessed by ergot of checking hemorrhage from

•rer organs (as the nose, gums, chest, stomach, and rectum) than the(see the cases of Drs. Spajrani, Pignacco, and Gabini, in the’lef 06 * for 1830 and 1831; of Dr. Negri, in the Lond. Med. Gaz. xiii.

*)• But having found it unsuccessful in my own practice, seeing that*4 t? hands of others it has also failed (Trousseau and Pidoux, Traitel^Thtrap. i. 546), and knowing how difficult it is to ascertain the^ u ence of remedies on hemorrhages, I think further evidence is requiredProve the anti-hemorrliagic powers of ergot.

^ • In amenorrhtea. —Some few cases have been published tending toj) evv that ergot possesses emmenagogue properties (Neal, Researches,It appears to me to be more calculated to cause than to relievee Uorrhcea.

In other diseases. —Ergot has been employed in various otherj, ases with apparent success: viz. intermittent fever (Dierbach , op. cit.paraplegia (Bayle, op. cit. p. 548), &c.j in 1 st rat ion.—E rgot is usually given in the form either of powder

C ,u si°n. The decoction, less frequently the tinctiue, and still more*y the extract, are also used.