FOXGLOVE, ?jil 



in phtliisis pvilmonalis have been known above a century, and 

 subsequent experience confirms the praises bestowed on it by a 

 writer of that period*. Dr. Ferrierf found its utility in this 

 complaint much increased by combining it with myrrh and sul- 

 phate of iron. Whatever may be the measure of benefit 

 derivable from Foxglove in rhe diseases already enumerated, it 

 is more especially valuable as a diuretic. Dr. Withering ;};, who 

 was the first to discover this property, employed it with 

 complete success in numerous cases of dropsy, as have also 

 other practitioners of established reputation. It is not, how- 

 ever, uniformly efficacious in all cases of dropsical effusion. 

 " It seldom succeeds," says Dr. W., " in men of great natural 

 strength, of tense fibre, of warm skin, of florid complexion, or 

 in those with a tight and cordy pulse. If the belly in ascites be 

 tense, hard, and circumscribed, or the limbs in anasarca solid 

 and resisting, we have but little hope. On the contrary, if the 

 pulse be feeble or intermitting, the countenance pale, the lips 

 livid, the skin cold, the swollen belly soft and fluctuating, or the 

 anasarcous limbs readily pitting under the pressure of the 

 finger, we may expect the diuretic effects to follow in a kindly 

 manner. Lastly, that if digitalis fails, there is but little chance 

 of any other medicine succeeding." In the first state of con- 

 stitution, the exhibition of squills, of cream of tartar, and other 

 debilitating agents, or copious bleeding to effect a reduction of 

 the strength, will frequently ensure its diuretic effects §. 



Although digitalis is now generally admitted to be a very 

 powerful diuretic, and many cases might be adduced of its suc- 

 cessful use, yet it is but justice to acknowledge that this medi- 

 cine has more frequently failed|l than could have been reasonably 

 expected^. These failures, we agree with Vassal in sup- 

 posing, were not cases in which digitalis promised success ; for 

 although nothing is more indubitably efficacious in lessening 



* Salmon ; see Edin. Bled, and Surg. Joum. vol. v. p. 303. 



•j- Essay on the Medical Properties of Digitalis. 



X "VVithering's Account of the Foxglove, 1785. 



§ Stephenson's Med. Bot. art. xviii. 



II Among the principal of the unsuccessful cases we may notice the eight 

 fatal ones related in the Memoirs of the Medical Society of London^ vol. ii. 

 p. 145, by Dr. Lettsom. 



5[ Woodville's Med. Bot. rol. ii. p. 220. 



