From ergot to "Ernutin" : an historical sketch : lecture memoranda, Medical Congress, Bombay, 1909.

Date:
[1909?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: From ergot to "Ernutin" : an historical sketch : lecture memoranda, Medical Congress, Bombay, 1909. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    KKOM EKCicrr TO ‘ KKNUTtN 4:5 sent to the mill just before Christmas, and had been used by some others besides the family, who developed the symptoms of ergotism. There is little doubt that the chief reason of our immunity, in England, from epidemic ergotism has been owing to the fact that the grain was better grown in this country, and that rye was a comparatively rare crop, and seldom used for food, wheaten bread being generally preferred. It was not until the end of the eighteenth century that the scientific world really awoke to the fact that there was a direct connection between the various forms of the disease which had recog'nised attacked the peasantry in many countries as the cause and the vitiated rye crops; although the enemies country people themselves and several obser- vant medical men living in the affected districts had been alive to the fact for a considerable period. According to Haser, it was not until the year 1771 that the identity of the old ignis sacer with the modern gangrenous ergotism was made clear. “ignis About 1783, Saillant, at the instance of the , ; _ _ identified Royal Society of Medicine of France, under- with took an investigation to determine whether ergot of rye was capable of producing dry gangrene or not, a question on which many observers of the period, such as Langius, Perrault, Dodart and others differed. He studied very closely on the spot the symptoms of the two distinctive forms of ergotism, and has left a valuable clinical description of the disease, and the methods of treatment used at the time. “ The dry gangrene,” he states, “ is characterised by the mortification of some one of the extremities, some- times all of them. Often it is preceded by a redness, which, however, is not inflammatory, and by some vesifications. The limb swells, becomes painful, and has a sensation sometimes of cold, but more frequently of insupportable heat. The vessels are obliterated, the
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