DIG 
ply of two nerves each; but they are fmaller, Thofe of the 
thumb, fore, and middie oe racial fide of the ring 
finger, are fupplied from the al branch of the radial 
nerve; while the ae are peaied from the dorfal 
branch of the ulna 
In the foot the lianas ‘digital nerves are derived from the 
two plantar branches of the polterior tibial nerve; and the 
ie nerves from the fuperficial peroneal nerves. 
Nerves. 
DIGITALIS, in Botany, (from digitale, the finger of 
: tha The name ripe firft to have been given by 
he Geunan writer Fuchs or Fuchfius, and herice the plant, 
bain called Digitalis Fue i, feems to have acquired its 
Englith appellation, there being, as far a3 we can difcover, 
no other name for it in our baewee ) feet Fuchf. 
Hift. 892. Linn. 313. Schreb. “ Sp. 
Pl. v. 3. 283. Fl. Brit. 665. uf ertn. 
t. 53. Clafs and een a eine en ae Nat. 
Ord. Luride, Linn Scrophu aria, 
nei ‘ jis 
aie oe in five jee, ovate or Benge 
one narrow weft. Cor. 
direc a 
r largeft. 
of the corolla, jacenee at each end, bent, two of them longe 
than the others; anthers incumbent, in two diftin&, poin aoe 
Capfule ovate, pened, the sae of the calyx, wit 
cells, and two valves, whofe inflexed edges form the double 
partition, but the valves folit externally as well as at the 
ummit. Seeds very numerous, {mall, obovate, but fome- 
what angular, and ro 
Eff. Ch. Calyx e deep fegments. Corolla bell- 
fhaped, * fa ‘fled, “Captile ovate, of two cells with 
eo e€ 
. D. purpares, is 8 PL BOE. Boel is the f{pecies 
i - t. 7 
beit known. Pl. 8 ) 1297 
Curt. Lond. fafe. I t "8. Woodv. Med. Bot. t. 24. Fuchf. 
Hit. § Ger o. * Segments of the calyx ovate, 
acute. Corolla obtufe; its upper lip undivided. Leaves 
downy.’ rs in various parts of Europe on a dry 
chalky, loamy or gravelly foil, and is very abundant and 
. the north of England, eae Se in June a It is fre- 
in gardens, a ahi itfelf i 
Ing any care 
avou 
acting Baers on the demach and bowels 
Exo 
Corolla male ey its upper 
decurrent.”? A native of Souin and Italy. This had been. 
DIG 
oe loft to our gardens, yen was but little — to fciene 
ec botanifts, till Mr. Lambert oe it 
i is a tolerably hardy eel a 
preat faccefs-at Kew. 4. D. lutea. . Hort. V 
t. 105. Segments of the calyx lanceolate. 
acute ; its upper lip cloven.”” Grows in France and Italy, 
and has a long denfe {pike of {mall yellow flowers, and 
{mooth lTeaves. It isa hardy perennial of no great beauty. 
5. D. ambiguae Linn. Suppl. 282. . lutea; Fuchf. 
Hitt. 894. D. ochroleuca ; Jacq. Anftr, te 57.) Seg 
ments of the calyx lanceo'ate. Upper lip of the corolla 
emarginate. Leaves le bene pad Found in Auttria, 
Switzerland, and many. A very pretty santa {pe~ 
cies, with el} fodeal Aeiacd ean and ftraw-coloured 
owers, beautifully {potted within. It feems to ae een 
long ov "7 ell underftood by ane zeus, who 
never faw it alive. The name given by Jacquin is prefere 
able to that which has been retained. 
There are feveral more of this genus, which refemble each 
other in their ie {mooth and rather rigid foliage; as 
D. ferruginea ; D ) ebfeura Jacq. Hort. Vind. t. gr. De 
» parviflora; ibid. t. 17 3 ie hai Ebrh. Beitr. fafe. 7. 1525 
fuppofed to be 3 a native of Hungary, and introduced ‘= 
r. Smith to the Britih gardens in 17903; and another un~ 
eientifcally named orientalis (D. pret li arn folio, 
flore albido, Tourn. Cor. 9,) which onght to have been 
called D. a: it was found by Tournefort in Arme- 
nia, and is tare allied to the ae a. 
Another tribe of {pecies ere natives of a warmer climate, 
and havetall fhrubby ftems, iain ee ferrated leaves, and 
handfome orange-coloured flow s; as D. canarie: 
Ic. t. 1203 and D. Sceptrum, Sm. Exot. Bot.t. 73. Th 
.are greenhoufe plants, and well worthy of cultivation. 
are propagated by feeds, and require only to be kept from 
frott, being natives of Madeira and the Canary iflands. 
some other {pecies of this fine genus are ftill not at all or 
imperfe€lly defcribed. 
sal oe many of = A ae! wild, ane - 
tended to ea objet i ey 
ers part of ie tea canes ri the Flora Cree 
DiciTAtis, the Materia panes Though this 
einatie lant has ftood on the lift of the Materia Medica 
for feveral centuries, it may be faid to have been brought into 
notice, at leaft among regular praCtitioners, almoft entirely 
by the late Dr. Withering. This excellent phyfician wag 
induced, in the year 1775, to make atrial of digitalis i in the 
cure of ha ies, (in conicquence, indeed, of finding it men~ 
tioned in a popular recipe agai: ft this difeafe, ) and the fuc- 
cefs attending this practice was fo marked, that after invef~ 
tigating the properites of this plant for ten years, he gav 
the refult of his experience in a very valuable treatile, pub- 
lifhed in 1786. 
e this p 
Sin eriod the ses properties ia digitalis ie 
— cubes ee a r, Ha- 
an 
d by Darwin, Beddoes,. Ferriar, 
ag h 
her 
the knowledge of its general properties fince Dr.. Wi-- 
thering’s treatife. 
Digitalis poficffes two very ft:iking properties, which in 
no other fubftance are found combined, (at leaft not in an 
confiderable degree,) and to which are to be referred all the 
benefits derived from its ule in various difeafes.. oe cl 
thele 
ad 
i=) 
