CORN-ERGOT AND CORN-SILK.— The Indian corn or maize (Z ea mays) yields two medicinal substances: one when the plant is diseased with smut, the other only when in a healthy con dition.
Ustilago maydis is a fungus growth: the ergot of corn, in fact. It occurs in globose masses, irregular, three to six inches thick-, made up of nodular and globular, brownish-black spores inclosed in a blackish membrane. Its taste is unpleasant and its odor disagreeable. There is contained a volatile alkali, a fixed oil, and principle analogous to sclerotic acid.
Stigmata maydis, or "corn-silk," is the green pistils of maize-plant: a cereal that, though indigenous to North Amer ica, is now well known in all quarters of the civilized globe. The pistils are of value only after they have shed their pollen.
Preparations and Doses.—Corn-erg-ot, powdered, 10 to GO grains.
Corn-ergot, fluid extract, 10 to 60 minims.
Corn-silk, fluid extract, 1 to 2 drachms.
Corn-silk, infusion (1 to 8), ad libitum.
Corn-silk, syrup, 1 to 4 drachms.
Corn-silk, wine, 30 to 60 minims.
Physiological Action.—The action of corn-ergot appears to be relatively the same as that of ergot of rye, except that the contractions induced by the former are regularly intermittent, and those provoked by the latter are tonic. Corn
ergot by many is held to be quite as efficient and more uniform than its rye. congener.
Corn-silk augments the secreting power of the kidney, and is likewise. tonic to the secretory membrane; thus' it is both diuretic and demulcent, and perhaps possessed of some antilithic puwer. Its diuretic action, if given in full doses, is both mild, certain, and rapid, whereby a debilitated kidney is not only relieved, but also an overburdened circulation: the pulse becomes more regular and the arterial tension stronger. It has no disturbing effect upon any organ; hence its tolerance is complete; and it can be taken for weeks without inconvenience of any kind. Some French authors assume it to be locally anodyne or anmsthetic, and to possess a peculiar elective action on the tissues of the ureter and bladder. It certainly is, in some degree, both antiseptic and antilithic.
Therapeutics.—The therapeutic prop erties of ustilago maydis may be said to be those of ergot, but to a milder deg,ree. The claim has been made that, employed subcutaneously, corn-smut is superior to that of rye in the treatment of uter ine fibroids, but this lacks confirmation.