FOXGLOVE. 339 



lieve it is still employed in rustic practice both to scrofulous 

 tumours and ulcers. In Italy it has long been reputed an infal- 

 lible vulnerary, hence their proverb — 



" Aralda chi tutte piagbe salda."* 



In modern practice Foxglove is rarely applied externally, but 

 as an internal agent it is one of the most useful and powerfvd 

 medicines contained in the Materia Medica. In addition to its 

 reputed value in epilepsy and scrofula, it has not been without 

 ample commendation against a variety of complaints ; but to take 

 a passing notice of its having been employed in active phleg- 

 masise, measles, croup, &c., we must observe that prudence 

 warns the enlightened practitioner to abstain from its employ- 

 ment in acute phlegmasiae of the skin, since the greater part of 

 these cutaneous disorders tend naturally to a cure when their 

 progress is not interrupted by unseasonable measures. Moreover, 

 from the exciting quality of digitalis, the French authorities -f- 

 deem it inadmissible in primitive fevers, acute inflammations of 

 the viscera, active hemorrhages, and in the majority of nervous 

 and other affections attended with a general state of irritation. 

 Dr. Clutterbuck j, however, recommends it in typhus, but it is 

 not very generally prescribed. In this country it is now effi- 

 caciously used, as a sedative, in inflammatory affections ; in 

 active hemorrhages, particularly from the uterine vessels, when 

 the pulse is sharp, throbbing, and frequent ; in mania ; and in 

 most cases of increased vascular action, or in which it is essen- 

 tial to lessen the usual impetus of the blood, as in aneurism. 

 In mania it acts as a narcotic, soothing the nervous system and' 

 producing sleep. Its internal use has also been extended with 

 a view to dissipate enlargements of the sublingual glands^ 

 and scrofulous tumours ||, and to improve the condition of scro- 

 fulous ulcers^, to alleviate scirrhus of the breast**, in spitting 



* " Foxglove cures all wounds." 

 ■f Flore ]Meclicale, torn. iii. p. 1G3. 

 J Inquiry into the Seat and Nature of Fevers, p. 429. 

 § Schiemann, Diss, de Digitali purpurea, p. 39. 

 II Merz, Diss, de Digitali purpurea, p. 8. 

 % Darwin, in Med. Trans, vol. iii. p. 279. 



** Kiilin, in Ricliter's Chirurg. Bibl. vol. iv. p. 591. Also lilayer, Bibl. 

 cit. vol. v. p. 532. 



