26  Digitalis  Glucosides  and  Allied  Drugs.  {^J^^gg?' 
what  not,  will  then  come  under  the  watchful  eye  of  this  new  army 
and  with  all  of  the  wisdom  of  science,  it  will  guard  the  health  of 
the  country,  if  any  thing,  more  jealously  than  it  is  guarded  against 
foreign  foes.  Every  occupational  disease  will  be  banished,  every 
case  of  communicable  disease  will  be  promptly  isolated. 
The  men  who  are  to  perform  this  service  will  be  the  doctors 
and  druggists  of  to-day  who  survive  at  that  time,  together  with 
those  who  shall  be  hereafter  graduated  in  those  professions.  Not 
that  all  of  these  men  are  at  present  fitted  for  this  work,  but  their 
training  and  experience  makes  them  the  most  available.  They 
will,  however,  be  subject  to  periodic  examinations  that  shall  de- 
termine their  advance  and  pay,  and  each  one  will  gravitate  into 
the  place  that  best  suits  his  capacity.  The  pay  of  these  men  will 
be  suitable  to  the  dignity  of  their  calling,  certainly  not  less  than 
that  of  a  lieutenant  in  the  United  States  Army.  Under  this  new 
order  the  people  will  receive  their  medicine  and  medical  treatment 
upon  the  same  plan  that  they  now  receive  their  public  school  edu- 
cation. To  the  incredulous,  it  may  be  said  that  the  people  of 
Philadelphia  alone  spend  annually  fifteen  millions  of  dollars  for 
medical  treatment,  and  medicine.  Under  the  new  system  the  cost 
would  be  less  than  half  of  that  sum,  and  the  people  will  receive 
better  attention  than  at  present. 
Schools  of  medicine  and  pharmacy  will  be  government  institu- 
tions, such  as  West  Point  and  Annapolis,  and  their  various  labora- 
tories will  be  the  main  centres  from  which  the  operations  of  this 
Hygienic  Army  shall  be  directed. 
To  the  incredulous,  again,  it  may  be  said,  these  conditions  are 
coming  not  because  they  are  being  sought,  nor  even  desired,  but 
they  will  be  thrust  upon  us  through  the  force  of  economic  necessity. 
DIGITALIS  GLUCOSIDES  AND  ALLIED  DRUGS.* 
i.  General  and  Historical. 
Since  the  introduction  of  digitalis  leaves  into  therapeutics  by 
Withering  of  Birmingham  in  1775,  digitalis  has  become  an  in- 
dispensable drug  in  our  materia  medica.  But  in  spite  of  many  efforts 
it  has  yet  been  impossible  to  isolate  from  this  drug  a  uniformly 
*  Reprinted  from  E.  Merck's  Annual  Report,  Vol.  xxv,  1911,  pp.  31  to  53. 
