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NOTES AND COMMENTS 
TWO DIFFERENT PLATES IN WITHERING’S 
ACCOUNT OF THE FOXGLOVE 
ES] Lt BRODMAN 
In examining a recently acquired copy of the first edition of Wiliam 
Withering’s Account of .)° foxglove (Birmingham, Robinson, 1785), 
the Columbia University Medical Library ioticed that the frontispiece 
appeared to be a reverse wi the commonly accepted plate (Wedical Classics, 
v. 2, no. 4, p. 305, 1937 ond Bericht iiber den Fingerhut wid seine medi- 
cintsche Anwendung. \.annheim, Boebringer [1959 ,. (See Fig. 1-2) 
Tn the Columiia On.veisity Medical Library cop, the words /igitalis 
purpurea are ai. lower right hand corner (the southeast corner, if the 
top of the plate 1: thought of as north), with the large leaf turned up to 
show its underside, and the smali figures no. 2, 3, 9, 10 at the left hand 
side. ihe sizes of the two pictures are also different. 
A cicck of other copies showed the 5 tila 
vee NOY 
iL mary accepted piate Soe a plate 
Army Medical Library, W Syl ok: D. Cy % 
_..Boston Medical Library. Boston iN 
College of Physicians of .’huiladelphia, Phila- 
delphia x 
Columbia University Medical Library, N. Y. x 
John Crerar Library, Chicago x 
N. Y. Academy of Medicine, N. Y. x x 
Osler Library, McGill University, Montreal . 2 copies 
Privately owned, N. Y. x 
U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Washington, D.C. x 
Yale Medical ey: New Haven 
aay A NEIL RI 
An attempt was made iv determine which was the authentic plate; or, 
if both were authentic, which was the earlier plate. Two approaches 
were made: from the name of the artist (J. Sowerby) and from the state- 
ment in the Introduction (p. xxi), that.the plate “is copied by the per- 
mission and under the inspection of Mr. Curtis, from his admirable work, 
entitled Flora Londinensis” (1777). 
415 
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