An experimental inquiry into the physiological action of ergot of rye / by Samuuel Wright.

  • Wright Samuel, 1816 or, 17-1853.
Date:
[1838?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An experimental inquiry into the physiological action of ergot of rye / by Samuuel Wright. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    Section I.—Physical Characters of Ergot of Rye. Ergot, when ripe, displays itself in the form of a dark-coloured substance,* which, in the place of sound grain, resides in the glume, exceeding it variously in length, and, if abundant, rendering the ear very conspicuous from the peculiarity of its hue. Some of the grains are composed of sound and diseased portions ; the ergotted part, va- rying from one-third to one-half, is always within the husk.-f- It is rare to find all the pickles of an ear ergotted, the fewer so corrupt- ed the more luxuriant they are. And conversely, when numerous, they are small in size, sometimes not exceeding the diameter or length of a sound grain.j The number of ergots in each ear is usually from four to five, though sometimes there will be ten or twelve. If only two or three be present, the sound grains upon the same ear are observed to be larger than usual; the whole plant is also more vigorous and healthy. But when the ergots are numerous, the grains not actually diseased have a very unhealthy appearance ; they look shrunken, and are covered at their superior extremity with a black powder.§ It is chiefly produced upon low lands, more frequently on the borders than in the middle of a field, and generally in hot sum- mers when there is plenty of rain. Spring wheat is also more liable to it than that sown in the winter season. || Ergot of rye is triangular in form, occasionally round, but of- tener angulated, retaining the original longitudinal depression of the sound grain, to which are generally added two or three others, running from one extremity to the opposite. Its length is from six to ten lines ; though often much greater. I have seen it eigh- teen lines in extent; and Aymen says that he has preserved in his herbarium a specimen, the length of which is equal to twenty-six lines. It is from one to three lines in diameter, generally smooth, * Tissot says that it is sometimes green—(Traite des Nerfs, et de leurs Maladies, Vol. vi. p. 218.)_When growing it is usually of a deep-green colour, gradually changes to a light pink, and when matured becomes purple, from the action of at- mospheric air upon its oil. f Dissertation by Oliver Piescott, A. M. Read before the Massachuset's Med. Soc. June 2, 1813. t This is only the case with rye. Ergot of wheat, whether sparing or abundant, is always found to be short and thick. § Tessier, Traite des Maladies des Grains. 8vo, Paris, 1783, p. 421. || We hence see the appropriateness of Virgil's allusion. Multi ante occasum Maiee caepere : sed illos Expectata seges vanis elusit aristis.—Georg. lib. i. 225-6. Columella also remarks—It was an old proverb amongst farmers, that an early sowing often deceives our expectations, but seldom a late one. The growth of ergot is very rapid when compared with that of the sound grain, i'nilippan in his TraitS Organographique et Physiologico-agricole sur l'Ergot, &c. aans le Cereal, says that he observed some particular plants of rye whilst passing a certain corn-field, which plants had no appearance of ergot, but in ten or twelve days afterwards they had full-sized ergots on them.