Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  ( 
May,  1915.  / 
Remarks  on  Digitalis. 
211 
cultivated  ones  are  inferior  to  the  wild  ones.  Recent  observations 
do  not  seem  to  support  this  statement.  F.  H.  Carr,  in  the  American 
Journal  of  Pharmacy,  states  that  the  first  and  second  year's 
growths  have  proved  identical  in  their  activity,  and  the  cultivated 
leaves  are  at  least  as  active  as  those  wild  grown.  Hatcher,  who 
in  his  "  Text-book  of  Materia  Medica,"  by  Hatcher  and  Sollmann, 
indorses  the  preference  of  the  second  year's  growth,  has  since,  in  a 
recent  article  (Drug.  Circ,  1914),  claimed  equal  value  for  first  and 
second  year's  leaves,  as  well  as  for  cultivated  leaves  in  comparison 
with  wild  ones.  Lloyd's  observations  also  confirm  this  view,  and 
he  attributes  the  erroneous  statement  about  the  second  year  to 
the  fact  that  formerly  also  the  root  was  used,  which  in  the  first 
year  is  insignificant  and  sappy,  while  the  second  year's  root  is  larger 
and  heavier  and  more  pronounced  in  quality.  There  may  be  another 
reason,  however,  for  adhering  so  long  to  the  second  year's  leaves 
as  better.  The  statement  in  the  text-books  is  followed  by  the  other 
one,  "  gathered  at  the  commencement  of  flowering."  Now,  digitalis 
does  not  flower  till  the  second  year,  and  leaves  could  not  be  gathered 
in  the  first  year  at  the  commencement  of  flowering.  As  the  flowers 
were  also  used  formerly,  and  are  used  to-day  in  Japan,  it  can  be 
understood  how  the  statement  of  the  second  year's  growth  originated, 
flowers  and  leaves  being  gathered  at  the  same  time.  According  to 
the  best  investigators,  this  statement  should  therefore  be  changed 
to  "  leaves  of  the  first  or  second  year's  growth  should  be  used." 
Professor  Hivohashi,  of  the  University  of  Tokio,  Japan,  who 
made  extensive  investigations  in  digitalis,  states  (Apoth.  Zg.,  1913* 
vol.  28,  p.  9)  that  digitalis  flowers  probably  contain  more  of  the 
active  constituents  than  do  the  leaves,  and  the  buds  are  more  active 
than  are  the  expanded  flowers. 
As  to  the  preservation  of  the  gathered  leaves,  all  kinds  of  more 
or  less  complicated  directions  are  given  in  the  various  pharmacopoeias. 
According  to  recent  literature,  however,  foxglove  leaves  do  not  differ 
materially  from  most  other  vegetable  drugs;  that  is,  they  will 
deteriorate  if  kept  carelessly,  and  keep  almost  indefinitely  if  properly 
stored  in  air-tight  containers  in  dark  places.  The  changes  that  do 
undoubtedly  happen  take  place  in  the  time  between  gathering  and 
marketing,  according  to  the  manner  in  which  the  drying  is  done. 
There  are  four  pharmaceutical  preparations  of  digitalis  official 
in  our  pharmacopoeia,  viz. :  The  extract,  the  fluidextract,  the 
tincture,  and  the  infusion,  of  which  the  first  one  is  but  rarely  and 
