Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
May,  1913. 
Digitalis.  Foxglove. 
225 
proposed  by  me;  100  Cc.  of  pure,  strong  sulphuric  acid;  and,  on 
the  other  hand,  100  Cc.  of  glacial  acetic  acid  are  mixed  each  with 
1  Cc.  of  a  solution  of  5  g.  of  ferric  sulphate  in  100  Cc.  of  water. 
Several  tenths  of  a  milligramme  of  the  material  to  be  examined  are 
dissolved  in  3-4  Cc.  of  the  glacial  acetic  acid  containing  ferrum, 
and  beneath  this  is  allowed  to  flow  an  equal  volume  of  the  afore- 
mentioned sulphuric  acid :  Digitoxin  acts  as  in  the  test  of  Keller 
(dark  blue  in  the  acetic  acid),  because  containing  digitoxose;  digi- 
talinum  verum,  on  the  other  hand,  colors  the  sulphuric  acid  yellow, 
afterwards  red,  and  finally  red-violet,  resembling  the  flower  of 
digitalis.  Pure  digitonin,  applied  in  the  same  small  quantity,  causes 
no  kind  of  color. 
Keller's  method  of  determining  the  amount  of  digitoxin  in  the 
leaves,  produces,  according  to  experiments  of  Windaus  and  the 
author,  doubtful  values,  the  product  not  being  uniform. 
The  older  literature  contains  the  description  of  many  substances 
as  digitalosmin,  digitasolin,  paradigitaligetin  and  others,  which  were 
surely  amorphous  mixtures. 
Medical  History. 
Digitalis  has  been  used  in  domestic  medicine  from  the  earliest 
date,  and  has  been  employed  for  numerous  affections  that  are  more 
or  less  connected  with  heart  disturbances.  The  recording  of  the 
titles  alone  of  the  works  of  past  authorities  in  medicine,  concerning 
this  drug,  would  require  pages.  We  shall  therefore  select  a  few 
only  of  these  writings  that,  for  our  purpose,  are  most  important. 
Rayser  (chemist  and  druggist)  is  authority  for  the  statement 
that  the  term  "  Foxes  glofe  "  occurs  in  the  Saxon  Herbarium,  1000 
a.d.,  and  again  under  the  name  Cerotheca  vulpis,  in  a  manuscript 
of  the  fourteenth  century  titled  Sinonama  Bartholimei.21 
Welsh  physicians 22  as  early  as  1233  commended  Digitalis  in 
21  Chemist  and  Druggist,  London,  X  Rayser  ii. 
22  Physicians  of  Myddvai.  The  domestic  physician  of  Rhys  GRYG, 
prince  of  South  Wales,  who  died  1233,  made  a  collection  of  recipes  used  in 
medicine,  at  that  date  in  his  country.  He  was  assisted  by  his  three  sons, 
the  collection  being  a  valuable  historical  record  concerning  remedial  agents 
and  methods  of  that  date.  Of  this,  two  compilations  have  been  issued,  the 
two  appearing  together,  1861,  with  a  translation  by  John  Pughe  (470  pp.). 
The  original  manuscript  is  in  the  British  Museum. 
