ON DIGITALIS. 
197 
I consider the aqueous extract to be the most certain and 
most energetic of all the preparations of this plant. 
When powder of Digitalis is acted on directly with aether, 
the whole of the chlorophylle is extracted, and nothing more. 
In this manner a tincture of a superb green color is obtained, 
but entirely deprived of medical properties, contrary to the 
opinion of MM. Leroyer, of Geneva, Planavia, and others, 
who regard aether as the best solvent for the active principle 
of the Digitalis. For my part, I have convinced myself that 
the aethereal tincture of Digitalis possesses no other proper- 
ties than those which belong to aether itself. 
The author then proceeds to describe several experiments 
made on some fowls with different preparations of this plant, 
from which he draws the following remarkable conclusions: 
* That the purple Digitalis has no injurious effect on fowls, 
to which very large doses of this plant were administered, 
either in powder, or in the form of aqueous or resinous ex- 
tract. The flowers of the fox-glove have no more action, as 
a poison, on these animals, than the leaves. These results 
are very remarkable, if we consider that 6 grs. of the pow- 
der of Digitalis is sufficient to cause, in the space of from 
twelve to fifteen hours, the death of a strong dog, (see Or- 
filas' ' Traite des Poisons,' 3d edit., vol. ii., p. 285;) while 
1^ to 2 oz., administered to fowls in the space of twenty- 
four hours, produce no morbid appearances. It is not pos- 
sible to assign this inertness to the specimen of Digitalis 
employed in my experiments, when every day the physi- 
cians affirm the efficacy of the same plant, prepared in my 
laboratory, as a therapeutic agent. 
" I had occasion to observe a fact of this kind in numerous 
experiments which I made on various animals with ergotized 
rye. Sometimes the oil extracted from this substance acted 
i mmediately in a dose of a scruple on fowls, which were nar- 
cotized within four to five minutes, and died in the space of 
a few hours. Sometimes the same oil, extracted from the 
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