195 DIGITALIS PURPUREA 



of Homolle. One hundred parts of dried leaves yield about 1*25 

 of this digitalin. 



Medical Properties and Uses. Digitalis is a very powerful drug, 

 acting especially as a sedative of the heart's action, and also as a 

 diuretic. Digitalin also produces effects similar to those of digi- 

 talis leaves, but the experiments of Homolle, Bourchardat, and 

 Sandras show that it is at least one hundred times as powerful 

 as the powder of the dried herb. Much care is necessary in the 

 administration of digitalis, and more especially so of digitalin, as 

 the latter is a very powerful poison. Digitalis also acts as an 

 aero-narcotic poison in large doses, and even when administered 

 in small doses for a length of time, it is liable to accumulate in the 

 system, and to manifest its presence all at once by its poisonous 

 action. Hence the action of digitalis in all the forms in which it 

 is administered should be carefully watched. Digitalis is a powerful 

 and valuable remedy in dropsy, especially when this is connected 

 with affections of the heart. In some heart diseases it is also a 

 most effectual remedy in reducing the force and velocity of the 

 circulation. It has also been employed in fever, in various inflam- 

 matory diseases, in delirium tremens, with marked success in large 

 doses, frequently repeated, in acute mania, spermatorrhoea, epi- 

 lepsy, croup, haemoptysis, menorrhagia and other forms of uterine 

 haemorrhages, and in various other diseases, with real or supposed 

 benefit. Digitalin has similar uses to digitalis ; it is reputed to 

 be a powerful anaphrodisiac. 



, Ph. Jl., 2nd ser., vol. iii, p. 475 ; Per. Mat. Med., by Bentley and 



Redwood, p. 588 ; Pharmacographia, p. 423 ; U. S. Disp., by 

 W. and B., p. 361; Gar. Mat. Med., 1868, p. 296; Per. Mat. 

 Med., vol. ii, part 1, pp. 523, and 528537. 



DESCRIPTION OP PLATE. 



Drawn from a specimen in the R. Botanic Soc.'s Garden, Regent's Park. 

 1. Plant (induced). 2. Summit of raceme. 3. Radical leaf. 4. Corolla laid 

 open from below. 5. Summit of style and vertical section of ovary. 6. Trans- 

 verse section of the ovary. 7. Capsule burst and the seeds fallen. 8. A seed. 

 9. Section of same. (5 and 6 enlarged ; 8 and 9 highly magnified.) 



