An experimental inquiry into the physiological action of ergot of rye / [Samuel Wright].

  • Wright, Samuel.
Date:
[1840?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An experimental inquiry into the physiological action of ergot of rye / [Samuel Wright]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    fer t&CtJ ^ <?y AN EXPERIMENTAL INQUIRY INTO THE PHYSIOLOGICAL ACTION OF ERGOT OF RYE* By SAMUEL WRIGHT, B. A., F. B. S. E., M. S.A. Senior President of the Royal Medical, Royal Physical, and Hunterian Societies of Edinburgh, Honorary Member of the Metaphysical Association of Glasgow, and of the Physiological Society of Montpellier. [Being an abridgement of the Harveian Prize Essay for the Session 1837—38.] (From, the Edin. Med. and Surg. Journal, No. 141.^ Whether ergotted grain were known to the ancients is a matter of doubt. It is said to have been mentioned by Theophras¬ tus, Virgil, Ovid, and Pliny ;* but I think it very probable that they were not acquainted with any other forms of the disease than smut and mildew. The u luxuries Begetum” of Theophrastus and Pliny has been supposed to imply ergot, though the evidence in its favour I have never been able clearly to ascertain. We are, however, certain that it has been extensively known during the last two centuries, described as chiefly affecting rye, and recog- * Spicse quaedam binos ordines habent, quaedam plures usque ad senos. Grano ipsi aliquot differentiae, longius, leviusque, aut brevius, aut rotundius, candidius, nigrius, vel cuiy?urpura est.-—Plinii, Nat. Hist. lib. 18, c. 18.