DIGITALIS PURPUREA. (Foxglove.) 



for diseases of the heart and for dropsy. 

 For these purposes the leaves are used, 

 being gathered when the plant is in 

 bloom. It thrives best in a gravelly or 

 sandy soil. The common name is from 

 the Anglo-Saxon Joxes-dife or foxes 

 glove. It is known by a great variety of 



The German name of thimble sug- 

 gested to the botanist Fuchs in 1542 

 the Latin adjective digitalis as a desig- 

 nation for the plant, which it has re- 

 tained ever since. The earliest known 

 description of the plant is that by the 

 botanist just named, about the middle 



Fig. 1459. — The Foxglove. 



names in Britain. In the south of Scot- 

 land it is called bloody fingers, farther 

 north, deadmens bells, and on the east- 

 ern borders ladies thimbles^ wild mercury 

 and Scotch mercury. In Wales the 

 synonyms are elve's gloves, foxes-gloves, 

 red fingers and dogs fingers. 



of the 1 6th Century, though it is certain 

 that it was known to herbalists at a 

 much remoter period, for it is men- 

 tioned in two distinct MSS. written 

 before the Norman Conquest. 



However, I must remember that my 

 purpose in writing this article was not 



423 



