222 
Digitalis.  Foxglove. 
(  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
{       May,  1913. 
had  been  applied  to  the  drug.  Thompson,  in  his  London  Dispen- 
satory, vSn,  p.  419,  alludes  to  the  fact  that  Destouches  established 
inorganic  compounds  of  calcium  and  potassium,  whilst  Radig 
found  potassium  acetate.9  Thompson  also  made  a  personal  exami- 
nation, establishing  "  a  deep-green  resinous  matter,  in  which  its 
narcotic  power  resides."  Leroyer,  of  Geneva,  afterward  gave  the 
names  Digitaline  and  Digit  alia  10  to  a  material  made  by  a  circuitous 
chemical  process,  in  which  it  is  questionable  whether  the  final 
product  had  any  place  in  the  original  drug.  After  discussions, 
Thompson  sums  it  up  as  "  an  extractive  mixture,"  adding  that  "  the 
active  principle  of  Digitalis  is  unknown." 
Came  then  Walz  (1846-1858),  Kosmann  (1845-1860),  Homolle 
and  Quevenne  (1845-1861),  Nativelle  11  (1872),  Schmiedeberg 
(1874),  the  last  of  whom  made  a  most  exhaustive  research.12 
From  that  date  to  the  present,  thousands  of  chemists  have  sought 
the  secrets  of  Digitalis,  all  ignoring  the  natural  combinations  of 
organics  and  inorganics,  all  seeking  a  toxic  agent  as  the  desirable 
therapeutic  constituent,  and  all,  so  far  as  we  can  discover,  believing 
that  agent  to  be  organic  only.13  Seemingly  in  it  all,  natural  asso- 
ciations of  textural  relationship  of  the  organic  and  inorganic  are 
ignored.  First  destroy  the  natural  substance  of  the  drug,  then 
from  it  create  anew,  is  the  idealistic  process,  which  needs  no  other 
comment  than  that,  after  more  than  one  hundred  years  of  these 
aggressive  destructive  methods  by  the  most  brilliant  chemists,  the 
verdict  is  by  many  persons  accepted,  as  by  Thompson,  in  181 1, 
"still  unknown."14 
8  The  time  will  come,  in  our  opinion,  when  such  as  these  will  become 
of  great  interest.  The  inorganic  side  of  organic  life  is  not  to  be  lightly 
passed  over. 
10  The  terminations  ine  and  ia  were  both  once  used  as  alkaloidal  affixes. 
See  "The  Eclectic  Alkaloids,"  etc.,  Lloyd  Library  Bulletin,  No.  12. 
11  For  this  research  the  Orfila  prize  of  6,000  francs  was  awarded,  in  1872. 
n  See  Pharm.  Journ.,  V,  1875,  abstract  by  Fliickiger. 
13  Likewise  the  cathartic  principle  of  Senna  and  Rhubarb  becomes  largely 
elusive  to  the  destructive  chemist.  The  agricultural  chemist  has  learned  the 
importance  of  inorganics  in  plant  foods,  so  in  a  time  to  come  must  chemists 
in  other  directions.  The  study  of  textures  embracing  the  natural  inorganic 
compounds  is  yet  to  become  a  promising  field. 
14  From  time  to  time  enthusiastic  searchers  have  rested  their  labors  on  a 
supposed  triumph  that,  under  the  touch  of  others,  has  proved  elusive.  Even 
now  not  one  but  several  believe  the  cry  is  answered  by  some  Digitalis  frag- 
ment that  will  influence  the  heart  of  a  beast. 
