32 ON DIGITALIS, WITH SOME OBSERVATIONS ON THE UPJNE. 



emetic and cathartic properties by the peasantry of Somerset- 

 shire as a cure for fevers. Ferrein* alludes to these properties, 

 and observes that it was reckoned a cure for inveterate 

 apoplexy, but ought only to be administered to robust persons. 

 It occurs in the list of simples of the London Pharmacopoeias 

 for 1650, 1678, 1682, and 1721, is excluded from that of 1746, 

 but appears again in 1788, and in that of 1809 it is not men- 

 tioned merely, but the preparation of its tincture and infusion 

 are described, and in all subsequent editions it has held a promi- 

 nent place. At an early period it seems to have been less used 

 on the continent than in England, as it is absent from the 

 Pharmacopoeia of Ley den for 1718. Drake affirms that its 

 action as a diuretic was unknown till 1770, and in 1775; 

 Withering v/rote the first monograph on its action as such; 

 noticing also its power of lowering the pulse. Prom this 

 latter property it began to be used in haemorrhages, and 

 Ferriar,t giving it for hsemoptyses in the early stages of phthisis 

 th )ught that it also prevented the farther formation of tubercle — 

 Beddoes,t Drake,§ Fowler,! Mosman,1F Barr,** Maclean,! I" and 

 Darwin, jl have all recommended its use in phthisis, and Brin- 

 ton§§ says that it is the best remedy for hsemorrhage from 

 cavities in its advanced stages. Ferriar|||| thought it useful in in- 

 flammatory fever, and Currie,iri[ Thomas,*** Easori,ttt Hirtz,JtJ 



* Ferrein, op. cit. 



t Ferriar, On Digitalis. 



X Beddoes, On Consumption, Digitalis, and Scrofula^ 1801 (H. and Q.), 



§ Drake, Letter to Beddoes (H. and Q.). 



II Fowler, Letter (H. and Q.). 



^ Mosman, Essa;^ on Scrofula^ Glandular Consumption, and Observations on 

 Digitalis (H. and Q,.). 



** Barr, Letter to Beddoes (H. and Q.). 



ft IMacIean, Med. and Phys. Journ., Ixy, p. 180-201 (H. and Q.). 



Xt Darwin, vide H. and Q., p. 323. 



§§ Brinton, quoted by Handfield Jones in Clinical Remarks on Functional 

 Nervous Disorders. 



\\\\ Ferriar, op. cit. 



Ifl" Currie, Medical Reports, 



### Thomas, Practice of Physic. 



tt+ Easori, Annales de Therapentique de Rognetta, 1845 (H. and Q.). 



XXX Bulletin de Therapeutique, February 28 and March. 15 {vide Year Book 

 of Sydenham Society, 1862, p. 110). 



