ON THE PURPLE FOXGLOVE. 
99 
dent of the very great convenience of only being able to em- 
ploy this process at a certain period of the year. 
The fermentation which the presence of a small quantity of" 
sugar in the plant caused in the liquors, however little the 
temperature was raised or the operation prolonged, the result 
of which was always the precipitation of a small proportion 
of altered bitter matter, induced us at first to add to the water 
with which the digitalis was exhausted one-tenth in volume of 
alcohol ; we also hoped by this means to avoid the solution of 
a part of the salts of lime and magnesia. We have had to 
abandon this addition, which renders the process more expen- 
sive without affording better results. In general it is best to 
carry on each operation rapidly, and to avoid a temperature 
exceeding 50° or 54° Fahr. 
We pass on to the study of physical and chemical proper- 
ties of the principle w T hich w r e have isolated, leaving it the 
name of digitaline, which former chemists have assigned to it 
by anticipation. Digitaline is white, colourless, difficult to 
crystallize, and assuming most frequently the form of porous 
warty masses or of small laminae. It is so intensely bitter 
that the loth part of a grain suffices to communicate a decided 
bitterness to 2 quarts of water. The taste of the solid digita- 
line is however slow in developing itself, owing to its sparing 
solubility in water. 
It causes violent sneezing when it is powdered or agitated 
carelessly, even in small quantities 
Digitaline dissolved in water or alcohol is without action on 
red or blue litmus-paper; it is therefore a neutral substance. 
A sample of this substance, purified with great care by al- 
ternate solutions and washings, without the use of charcoal, 
for fear of introducing foreign matters, was employed in as- 
certaining the following properties: — 
Exposed in a tube to the action of heat of an oil-bath, it 
began at 356° to be slightly coloured ; at 392° it had be- 
come brown ; and towards 400° it began to soften to a sort of 
