been used, and we understand that the flowers are still pr eferred by some practitioners in the west of 
England. It was first introduced into the London Pharmacopseia in 1721, (folia, jlores, semen,) was dis- 
carded in the ensuing edition of 1746, and has been since restored ; having encountered a like alternation 
of favour and proscription in the Edinburgh College. 
Our own countrymen have long ascribed to it medicinal effects, for according to Gerarde, p. 647, 
« boiled in water or wine and drunken, it doth cut and consume the thicke toughness of gross and slimie 
flegme, and naughtie humours. The same, or boiled with honied water and sugar, doth scoure and dense 
the brest, ripeneth and bringeth forth tough clammie flegme. It openeth also the stoppage of the liver, 
spleene, and milt, and of the inward parts :” and Parkinson not only recommended it to be externally ap- 
plied to scrophulous diseases, but extols its expectorant and other virtues. He also states, that it is “ effec- 
tive against the falling sickness.” Dr. Withering never observed any of our cattle to eat it. 
Qualities and Chemical, Properties — The leaves of Digitalis should be collected just as the 
plant is about to blossom, and the advice which we gave respecting the drying and perservation of 
Conium maculatum, applies equally to them ; and those plants should be preferred for medicinal purposes 
which grow wild in elevated situations exposed to the sun. For although the beauty of the foxglove has 
made it a denizen of our gardens, its properties are much impaired by cultivation, especially in damp or 
shady situations. When properly dried, the leaves have a slight narcotic odour, and a bitterish nauseous 
taste. When reduced to powder, they are of a beautiful green colour, which will be preserved by exclusion 
from light and air. The active principle has been separated by M. le Rayer, and is termed Digitciline. It 
is inodorous, very bitter, deliquescent, and soluble in water, alcohol, and ether ; and is decomposed by heat. 
He procured it by digesting the leaves in ether, both cold and warm, and treating the solution with hydrated 
oxide of lead ; or the infusion may be evaporated to the consistence of an extract, which, if dissolved in 
distilled water, will part with some chlorophylle : and if the solution, which reddens litmus paper, be acted 
on with acetate of lead, filtered, evaporated, and again treated with ether and re-evaporated the result is 
Digitaline, or Digitalia. 
Digitalis appears to contain extractive resin, and some saline matter. Both water and alcohol extract 
the virtues of the leaves, but boiling them impairs their power. Precipitates are produced by sulphate of 
iron, acetate of lead, and the infusion of yellow bark, &c. which are incompatibles in mixtures containing Di- 
gitalis, if used medicinally ; but the latter is an excellent antidote to counteract the baneful influence of an 
over-dose. 
Medical Properties and Uses. — Were all that has been written on Digitalis to be collected, a 
ponderous volume of contradiction would be the result ; for although the known virtues of the plant may be 
stated in a very small compass, it was at one time held forth as a never-failing remedy in the worst and most 
common erf diseases — pulmonary consumption. It was of course prescribed by almost every practitioner 
throughout the United Kingdom ; but time, which settles down the minds of men to a just appreciation of 
the truth, has. proved that it is only in the incipient stages of tubercular consumption, when inflammatory 
action has been subdued by other means, or in the advanced stages when the pulse shows that bleeding has 
diminished the chronic inflammation of the substance of the lungs, that the sedative effects of Digitalis, 
which are so benign and truly valuable, can be advantageously produced. 
Dr. A. T. Thompson makes the following pertinent remarks. “ The Pharmacopoeias order an infusion 
and a tincture of Digitalis ; but there is great uncertainty in both preparations ; owing to the careless 
manner in which the leaves are frequently dried ; and the only advantage of even a correct analysis of the 
plant would be the obtaining a vehicle which should always ensure a preparation of a definite strength. 
As far as my experiments enable me to decide, I am disposed to think that such a vehicle will be found in 
ether, which takes up the whole of the colouring matter, and when the solution is evaporated, leaves a green 
principle, possessing in a high degree the properties of the plant. The solution of this in alcohol might be 
employed with advantage. Mat. Med. i. 580. An instance in point is recorded by Dr. Williams, who says 
that “ two ounces of the tincture of the London College have been taken in two doses, with a short interval 
between them, yet without causing any inconvenience.” 
This is not the only plant, valuable as a medicine, says “ Burnett in his outlines” which Withering 
introduced into practice ; and if it be the lot of an individual to discover one, and such an one ; amongst 
our native weeds, it would encourage the belief that there still may be many more, “ blest secrets/ 5 more 
yet “ unpublished virtues of the earth, 55 hereafter to be revealed, as “ aidant and remediate to the sick man’s 
distress, 55 and which, if we cannot hope they will “ spring with our tears 55 we may more than hope, they will 
be found by our exertions. 
