RECORD OF MEDICAL SCIENCE.
PATHOLOGY AND PRACTICE OF MEDICINE.
On employment of Ergot of Rye in some forms of Retention of
Urine. By M. Passot, of Lyons.—Ergot of rye has not only the pro-
perty of exciting the uterine contractions in cases of inactivity of the
uterus, but is also very efficacious in the retention of urine which is
caused by atony and paralysis of the bladder. MM. Baudin and Payan
of Aix, were the first who endeavored to demonstrate that this agent does
not act on the uterus alone, but rather on the lower part of the spinal
cord. They also speak very highly of it as well in the affection which
we have now under consideration, as in weakness or paralysis of the
lower extremities.
Drs. Kinsley, Canuto-Canuti, Sainmont de Rocroy, Allier of Marcig-
ny, have also recorded cases which bear favorable testimony to the utility
of ergot in paralysis of the bladder. I will now briefly mention some of
them:
Capt. B., aged 60, suffered from dysuria, which had increased greatly
during the last three months, until it suddenly turned to a complete re-
tention, which necessitated the employment of the catheter several times
a day. For two months a host of remedies were used without avail ;
there was not the slightest improvement. The prostate became enlarged,
and the patient suffered much from the use of the catheter, which had to
he passed twice every day.
Fifty centigrammes (about eight grains) of ergot of rye, infused in a
cupful of boiling water, was administered three times a day. At the
expiration of six hours, the patient passed a small quantity of urine, and
required the use of the catheter only once in the.day. Afterwards it was
only passed once in the forty-eight hours, and after ten days the bladder
was left to itself (Kinsley’s Journal cles Comm. Med. Chir., March, 1844.)
A lady, aged about 75, was affected with paralysis of the bladder,
which for a time required the use of the catheter. Ergot was prescribed
in doses of fifteen decigrammes (about twenty-eight grains) in infusion.
On the sixth day of this treatment, it was no longer necessary to pass
the instrument, the patient being able to pass water spontaneously (Ca-
nuto-Canuti, Bull, des Sciences Med. de Bologne, 1845.)
A man, named Rousseau, aged 58, of a nervous temperament, was, in
consequence of a fit of passion, attacked with a complete inability to uri-
nate. The bladder was obliged to be emptied by the catheter. The in-
ertia of this organ continued in spite of cold injections to it, cold ene-
mata, the application of ice, also a blister to the hypogastrium.
Strychnine applied, by means of ointment, as a dressing to the blister,
also by frictions in the axillae, on the following day produced cramps in
the legs and arms, and was presently accompanied by stiffness, so that it
became necessary to discontinue the use of this remedy. There was not
the slightest action on the bladder. It was at this stage that the author
conceived the idea of giving ergot of rye. He prescribed six grammes
(about ninety-two grains) coarsely powdered, to be put into a litre (about
thirty-four ounces) of water, macerate for two days, filtered, and injected
cold into the bladder. Seven minutes afterwards the patient experienced
a desire to urinate, which, however, he could not then satisfy. The next
morning the injection was again administered. Eight minutes after he
had vesical tenesmus, and then spontaneous emission of urine. The in-
jections were continued for some days. The cure was complete. (Sain-
mont, Gazette des Hopitaux, 1848.)
In 1848, Dr. Allier of Marcigny, sent a letter to the National Aca-
demy of Medicine, in which he gives as the result of his observations,
that in only one out of fourteen cases ergot proved of no use.
I also am in possession of some cases which, in an incontestible man-
ner, prove that ergot is capable of restoring the contractility of the blad-
der. The following is the most remarkable:—In the month of July,
1846, I was consulted by M. FI., aged 60, of a dry constitution, and a
very well-marked nervous temperament. Mr. H. admits having indulged
in venereal excesses, and in the excesses of the table, and it is these that
he blames for the vesical paralysis from which he is now Buffering, and
which requires the catheter twice a day : otherwise there is no symptom
of organic alteration, no fever, no enlarged prostate. The canal of the
urethra is free, through its entire length, and the urine when drawn off
is perfectly clear. After having experienced the uselessness of tincture
of cantharides and blistering the hypogastrium, I used the following pre-
scription :—
Freshly powdered ergot ...	2 grammes (30 grains.)
Mucilage,.........................120	“	(31 ounces.)
A tablespoonful every half hour (shake the bottle.)
Ergot of rye, powdered, ...	15 decigrammes (23 grains.)
Coca butter,....................... a	sufficiency.
To be made into two suppositories; one of them to be
introduced night and morning.
On the same day, at the expiration of some hours, M. H. felt a desire
to micturate. At my evening visit I ordered a bath. The patient was
scarcely in it before micturation took place spontaneously and with force.
From this time to his death, M. IT. has always passed water freely and
without the assistance of the instrument. I should add, that to make
certain of the cure, I continued the remedy for three or four days, but
in a decreasing dose. M. H. died on the 30th January, 1848, of an
acute pleuro-ppeumonia, during the course of which not a single morbid
symptom appeared in the bladder. It is therefore certain that ergot
cures retention of urine which depends on pure and simple atony or pa-
ralysis of the bladder. But with regard to paralysis consecutive to apo-
plexy, or depending on other affections of the nervous centres, it is well
known that they are unaffected by the remedy we are treating of.—
Med. Times and Gaz., from Gaz. Med. de Lyon and Rev. Med. Chir.
de Paris.