From ergot to "Ernutin" : an historical sketch.

Date:
[1908]
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: From ergot to "Ernutin" : an historical sketch. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    accoucheur a considerable portion of time without producing any bad effects on the patient. The cases in which I have generally found this powder useful are when the pains are lingering and have wholly subsided, or in any way incompetent to exclude the foetus. Previous to its exhibition it is of the utmost importance to ascertain the presentation, and whether any preternatural obstruction prevents the delivery, as the violent and almost incessant action which it induces in the uterus precludes a possibility of turning. The pains induced by it arc peculiarly forcing, though not accompanied by that distress and agony of which the patients frequently complain when the action is much less. My method of administering it is either in decoction or powder. Boil half a drachm of the powder in half a pint of water and give one-third every twenty minutes till the pain has commenced. In powder I give from five to ten grains. Some patients require larger doses, though I have generally found these sufficient; if the dose is large it produces nausea and vomiting. In most cases you will be surprised with the sudden- ness of its operation ; it is, therefore, necessary to be completely ready before you give the medicine, as the urgency of the pains will allow you but a short time afterwards. Since I have adopted the use of this powder, I have seldom found a case to detain me more than three hours. Other physicians who have administered it concur with me in the success of the operation. The modus operandi I feel incompetent to explain. At the same time that it augments the action of the uterus it appears to relax the rigidity of the contracted muscular fibres. May it not produce the beneficial effects of bleeding without inducing that extreme debility which is always consequent upon copious depletion. This appears to be corroborated by its nauseating effects upon the stomach, and the known sympathy between the viscus and the uterus.