Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  ) 
November,  1914.  J 
Digitalis  and  Its  Preparations. 
519 
follow  that  the  most  active  specimen  of  digitalis  contains  the  largest 
proportion  of  the  most  desirable  of  these  principles.  Thus,  true  digi- 
talin  (of  Schmiedeberg)  is  more  actively  emetic  than  digitoxin  in 
proportion  to  its  therapeutic  activity  (contrary  to  common  teaching), 
and  it  may  be  that  one  specimen  which  is  more  active  than  another 
may  contain  the  larger  proportion  of  this  relatively  more  active 
emetic,  true  digitalin,  in  which  case  the  less  active  drug  would  be 
decidedly  the  more  valuable. 
"  We  need  digitalis  which  will  exert  a  maximum  therapeutic 
action  with  a  minimum  of  this  undesired  action,  regardless  of  whether 
the  drug  is  from  wild  or  cultivated  plants,  and  whether  of  the  first 
or  second  year's  growth,  and  regardless  of  the  actual  activity,  even 
within  certain  limits,  for  one  may  administer  a  larger  or  smaller 
dose,  provided  the  activity  of  the  drug  be  known." 
The  study  of  digitalis  from  this  point  of  view  has  received  little 
or  no  attention,  and  Dr.  Hatcher  states  that  it  is  a  field  to  which 
the  pharmacist  could  well  give  some  attention.  The  disagreeable 
features  of  this  drug  is  its  tendency  toward  nausea  and  vomiting, 
and  while,  to  a  certain  extent,  this  is  unavoidable,  there  is  a  possi- 
bility of  minimizing  it  if  one  can  only  find  out  at  what  season  the 
drug  shows  a  minimum  emetic  action  relative  to  its  therapeutic  effect. 
While  digitalis,  like  other  vegetable  drugs,  will  deteriorate  when 
improperly  stored,  the  extraordinary  precautions  and  requirements 
of  some  of  the  European  pharmacopoeias  are  unnecessary ;  specimens 
of  the  whole  or  powdered  leaves  examined  in  the  laboratory  showed 
no  evidence  of  deterioration  after  having  been  stored  in  the  most 
ordinary  manner  in  paper  boxes,  during  periods  varying  from  five 
to  twenty-five  years. 
Speaking  on  the  subject  of  digitalis  from  a  pharmaceutical  stand- 
point, this  investigator  emphasizes  the  necessity  of  a  proper  alcoholic 
content  in  its  liquid  preparations.  Tinctures  and  fluidextracts  should 
not  only  be  made  with  a  menstruum  of  70  per  cent,  alcohol,  but  the 
finished  preparation  should  actually  contain  that  amount  of  alcohol ; 
when  this  requirement  is  complied  with  deterioration  does  not  take 
place  in  any  important  degree.  Digitalis  leaf  and  the  preparations 
containing  this  amount  of  alcohol  will  retain  their  potency  almost 
indefinitely  without  any  serious  loss  if  protected  from  air  and 
sunlight. 
Physicians  who  are  inclined  to  be  susceptible  to  the  wiles  of  the 
detail  man  would  do  well  to  ponder  these  words:  "Unfortunately, 
