The successful use of ergot in hemorrhage from the uterus led to its employment in the same affection of other organs. it has accordingly been used in haemoptysis, hematuria, epistaxis, etc., and in many cases with supposed advantage. in my hands, it has seemed to be very promptly successful in pulmonary hemorrhage; and it is certainly among the hemostatics to which the practitioner may have recourse, with propriety, in almost any case, not connected with an irritated state of the stomach. Even locally, it has been used, with asserted success, for the suppression of hemorrhage. it certainly does not act as an astringent in these cases. An explanation of its operation which appears to me highly probable, is based upon the views of its action on the capillaries already given, in the account of its mode of operation. it appears to me to have a direct sedative influence on the capillary circulation, which, in its greatest extent, is capable of arresting the flow of blood in them altogether, and may consequently end in gangrene. There is, I think, no clanger whatever of this result in ordinary medicinal doses; and the remedy may, therefore, be prescribed without hesitation. Though the direct and speedy suppression of uterine hemorrhage is probably ascribable to the contraction of the organ produced by it; yet the ultimate and lasting cure may be owing to the depressing influence referred to upon the capillary circulation.

The use of ergot has also been extended to many other diseases, in the treatment of which success has been claimed for it by one or another advocate. Thus, it has been used in gonorrhoea, gleet, and spermatorrhoea, with supposed advantage; as also in diarrhoea and dysentery; and it is not impossible, admitting the influence on the capillary circulation above claimed for it, that it may prove useful in these complaints. in intermittent fever, in which it is stated to have proved effectual, its operation on the nervous system would be likely to render it useful; though proofs are yet wanting of its peculiar efficacy. in hysteria it may have proved serviceable through the same property. its applicability to the treatment of paraplegia, and paralytic conditions of the bladder, for which it has been recommended, would scarcely be inferred from anything that has been known of its physiological effects; yet M. Paul Guersant is said to have demonstrated that it excites contraction of the bladder; and both he and Dr. Allier have found it useful in retention of urine from debility or palsy of that organ. {Bulletin Gen. de Thérap., Sept. 15 and 30, 1860.) Great advantage has been claimed for it in defects of vision, dependent on congestion of the interior vessels of the eye. it may operate here, as in other parts of the body, by diminishing the capillary circulation. in connection with perchloride of iron, it has proved very useful in cases of albuminuria, or Bright's disease, under the care of MM. Hugues, Socquet, and Chatin, of Lyons, France. (Ann de Thérap., 1864, p. 93.) Dr. Griepenkerl, in 1856, having seen a child with hooping-cough attacked by the symptoms of ergotism, at that time epidemic in the commune of Lutter, and recovering simultaneously from both affections, was induced to prescribe ergot as a remedy for that disease, and found it extremely effectual. He gave the remedy in upwards of 200 cases of hooping-cough, and failed in effecting cures in but five. He recommends that the treatment should not be commenced till after the third week, when the early complications shall have disappeared. The symptoms are often aggravated for a few days, but in about a week the paroxysms diminish •in frequency, and disappear with a rapidity proportionate to the diminution of the catarrh. {Ed. Med. Journ., Dec. 1863, p. 561; from Deutsche Klinik.) Dr. Jacobi, of New York, used it with apparent benefit in a case of chorea. (N. Y. lied. Journ., May, 1865, p. 142.)

5. Administration

For producing uterine contraction, powdered ergot may be given in the dose of twenty grains, repeated every twenty minutes, until the desired effect is produced, or till it occasions unpleasant gastric or cerebral symptoms. it has been customary to limit its use to a drachm; but, in cases of urgency, when its effects are not obtained, the dose may be increased with impunity beyond this amount. As soon as it evinces any influence on the brain, or occasions sickness of stomach, it should be omitted. in the treatment of uterine hemorrhage, and for other purposes, ten or fifteen grains may be administered three or four times a day, or more frequently under urgent circumstances. I have generally used ten grains every two hours during the day, in pulmonary hemorrhage, and have never witnessed ill effects from it. it should not, however, be given continuously for a great length of time. After three or four days, it might be best to suspend its use; to be resumed should circumstances appear to call for it.

An infusion of Ergot (infusum Ergotae, Br.), now a British officinal, may be made in the proportion of a drachm to four fluidounces of water, of which one-third may be given for a dose, repeated in the same manner as the powder. The British infusion is made in the proportion of one-quarter of an avoirdupois ounce to ten imperial fluidounces.

Wine of Ergot (Vinum Ergots, U. S.) is made in the proportion of two troyounces of ergot to a pint of wine, and is given in the dose of two or three fluidrachms to a woman in labour; and one or two fluidrachms for other purposes.

A Tincture is directed in the British Pharmacopoeia (Tinctura Ergots, Br.), of which the dose is one or two fluidrachms. An Ethereal Tincture was formerly recognized by the London College (Tinctura Ergots AEtherea, Lond.), made by macerating ergot in ether, and given in the dose of a fluidrachm. But the latter preparation was unnecessary, was objectionable on account of the extreme volatility of the menstruum, and has been omitted in the Br. Pharmacopoeia.

A Fluid Extract of Ergot (Extractum Ergots Fluidum, U.S.; Extractum Ergotae Liquidum, Br.) has been introduced into both the U. S. and Br. Pharmacopoeias. According to our national code, it is prepared by forming a tincture with diluted alcohol to which a little acetic acid has been added, and carefully concentrating by means of a warm-bath. For-different steps of the process, and for that of the Br. Pharmacopoeia, the reader is referred to the 12th edition of the U. S. Dispensatory. The U. S. fluid extract is an excellent preparation; the use of diluted alcohol as the menstruum ensuring the extraction of all the virtues of the ergot, while the useless oil is left behind; and the acetic acid preventing injurious change in the evaporation. The dose is from ten to twenty minims.

The purified extract, called by M. Bonjean ergotin, is sometimes employed. For the mode of its preparation, the reader is referred to the U. S. Dispensatory (12th ed., p. 3T1). The dose of it is from five to ten grains.

Though ergot is the only uterine motor-stimulant of undoubted powers, there are several other agents which are asserted to have the same property, and of which a brief notice is requisite.