FOXGLOVE IN MEDICINE 253 



tiveness, is a dangerous thing to experiment with. 

 The active principle, called digitaline, is found in 

 the leaves. It is very potent ; one grain dissolved 

 in water will kill a rabbit within five minutes, and 

 a dose administered to the human subject will often 

 bring the pulse down from a hundred and twenty 

 beats a minute to much less than half this. The 

 leaves are gathered when the plant is flowering 

 and gradually dried, and the medical infusion is 

 produced by steeping thirty grains of these dried 

 leaves in half a pint of boiling water for an hour or 

 so, and then straining off. In a case of poisoning 

 the patient becomes dizzy, staggers helplessly, 

 becomes unconscious, and may very possibly never 

 rally; but the best antidote is the immediate and 

 free use of stimulants. Its great medicinal value is 

 in diminishing the action of the heart and acting as 

 a sedative, but it is manifest that it should only be 

 administered by a qualified and experienced prac- 

 titioner. In any case it is a rather dangerous 

 remedy, unless very carefully dealt with, as its 

 action is very frequently what the doctors term 

 cumulative ; that is to say, a number of small doses 

 may be given with apparently very little effect, and 

 then the whole will act suddenly upon the system 

 at once and produce very alarming symptoms. It 

 is therefore evidently not a plant for rural herb 

 doctors or amateurs to meddle with. 



In olden times the artist was his own colour- 



