740 DIDYNAMIA. ANGIOSPERMIA. Sicmtis, 
soms numerous* purple* elegantly mottled* and hairy within; inversely 
conical* but tumid on the under side* large* and handsome. E.) 
Var. 2. FI alb. Flowers white. 
Shenstone Lane* near Hartlebury, Worcestershire. Stokes. (On Ramps 
Holm in Derwentwater. Mr. Winch. By the road side near Penmynydd* 
Anglesey. Welsh Bot. E.) About Moxhull* Staffordshire. The pure milk- 
white colour of the blossoms renders this variety an ornament to our 
flower-gardens. 
Purple Foxglove. (Irish: Mearecan. Welsh: Fjion y ffridd; Bysedo - 
cochion. Gaelic: Meuran-sith. E.) Hedge-banks and sides of hills in 
dry gravelly or sandy soil* but it is not found in flat grounds* except in 
very dry land* for though the seeds vegetate there* the winter wet decays 
the roots* which are otherwise biennial. 
Very common in the midland and western* but rare in the eastern* counties. 
(Oliver’s Mount* near Scarborough. Mr. Travis. Abundant in the county 
of Durham* but becomes scarce to the north of the Tyne* though it may 
be noticed in the neighbourhood of Rothbury and Roathley* in Northum- 
land. Mr. Winch. E.) B. June—July.* 
* (Foxglove was not unknown to the ancients as a medicinal plant* and its celebrity as 
a vulnerary was marked in Italy during the middle ages by the proverb “ Iraida tutte le 
piaghe salda : ” but it was reserved for our author more scientifically to ascertain its real 
virtues* and thus not only to extend his own reputation, but to assuage the sufferings of 
humanity. The writer of the Monthly Review for Feb. 1824, says, “In 1785 Dr. 
Withering published his 1 Account of the Foxglove/ (a treatise which has been reprinted 
with the Memoirs and Tracts of the author, in two vols. 8vo. 1822), which forms be¬ 
yond doubt the most important point in his medical career. For ten years, he had been 
engaged in studying the properties of this powerful drug ; and even after this long period, 
it is probable that he would still have delayed to give his opinions on the subject to the 
public, had he not found that measure necessary for the purpose of protecting his own 
fame, and his just right to the merit of the discovery. Those who are most intimately 
acquainted with the history of medicine can best tell what multitudes of drugs have been 
discovered, lauded, universally employed, and in no long time consigned to neglect and 
oblivion ; but the Foxglove is at this day acknowledged to possess all the virtues which Its 
discoverer claimed for it, viz. “ a power to control the action of the heart, and to increase 
the secretion of the kidneys,” p. 165. As a remedy for various kinds of dropsy, particularly 
that hitherto almost incurable disease Hydrothorax* its importance has been amply decided. 
It has been more recently employed as a sedative, and has proved serviceable in retarding 
the undue quickness of pulse, in many cases of pulmonary consumption and other in¬ 
flammatory action ; and yet more permanently advantageous in abating maniacal excite¬ 
ment, according to the prediction of the author. (Vid. Report of the Committee of 
the House of Commons on the state of Lunatic Asylums, 1815 : passim.) “ From every 
part of Dr. Withering’s work,” adds an anonymous writer, “ the reader may promise 
himself instruction : ”—it is a book which, according to the public testimony of the cele¬ 
brated Professor Cullen, “ should be in the hands of every practitioner of physic.” 
(Mat. Med. 4to. Ed. p, 555.) The valuable qualities of this very handsome plant have 
not been inappropriately commended by S. H.— 
“ The Foxglove’s leaves, with caution giv’n, 
Another proof of favouring Heav’n 
Will happily display; 
The rapid pulse it can abate; 
The hectic flush can moderate ; 
And, blest by Him whose will is fate. 
May give a lengthen’d day.” 
It stands recorded, and by a female too, that “ women of the poorer class* in Derby¬ 
shire, drink large draughts of Foxglove tea, as a cheap means of obtaining the pleasures, or 
