John Chassar Moir (1900-1977) and the discovery of ergometrine

Abstract

Chassar Moir led the research in the early 1930s that resulted in the discovery and identification of ergometrine, the active water soluble component of ergot of rye. Its use in preventing and controlling postpartum haemorrhage has saved countless lives in the years since. As professor of obstetrics and gynaecology in Oxford, he achieved distinction for his repair of vesicovaginal fistulae.

Figure 1

John Chassar Moir (1900–1977).

Figure 2

Top: the tracing that first showed on 11 March 1932 the presence of an unidentified active principle in crude ergot. Bottom: the first tracing made on 9 February 1935 with the purified alkaloid, later to be named ergometrine.