Glass bottle with a glass stopper that is covered with a piece of leather with string wrapped round. Lump of black substance inside. Handwritten label reads "Ergot of Rye". Second printed label with company name "Twinberrow Pharmaceutical Operative Chemist". A disease of rye caused by the fungus Claviceps purpurea, can cause a potentially fatal disease in mammals and humans, ergotism, when ingested: “holy fire" or "St Anthony's fire" was common but unpredictable. Symptoms also varied depending on which toxins, called alkaloids, were present in the ingested ergots and at what concentration. Common symptoms included strange mental aberrations, hallucinations, a feeling of burning skin or insects crawling under the skin. Women frequently miscarried, and fertility was generally reduced during outbreaks. Some victims developed gangrene due to constriction of blood vessels in the extremities; many victims lost hands and feet. (…)Midwives and doctors have used extracts from ergots to hasten childbirth or to induce abortions for centuries. Ergot is now deliberately cultivated in the field and laboratory for medicinal purposes.”
(http://www.apsnet.org/edcenter/intropp/
lessons/fungi/ascomycetes/Pages/Ergot.aspx)
Thought to be part of rye plant until 1850’s, identified as cause of ergotism by Thullier in 1670’s (http://www.botany.hawaii.edu/faculty/
wong/BOT135/LECT12.HTM)
Savory 1836, p.30: Ërgot of Rye. Grows on the ear of rye, barley, and wheat, and, from its appearance, is known by the name of the spur. It is extensively used in difficult and tedious labours, but only under the direction of the accoucheur.” Reece 1839, p. 25 lists ‘The ergot of Rye’ in its ‘selection of medicines for domestic use’, but only for diseases of the womb and in difficult labour.