Digitalis.

Related entry: Digitalis under sedatives

Dose.—Of powdered Digitalis, from gr. ½ to grs. iss., repeated every six hours. Of an infusion of one drachm to half a pint of boiling water, ℥ss. Of the tincture, gtt. ij to gtt. x.

Digitalis, exhibited in small and gradually augmented doses, acts as a specific excitant to the kidneys, promoting the secretion of urine; on account of this property it has been much used by some practitioners in dropsical effusions. Pereira says: "Of all remedies for dropsy, none have gained more, and few so much celebrity as fox-glove." Its curative powers are referred to its sedative influence, repressing arterial excitement; to ite power to promote the action of the absorbent vessels, and to its diuretic action.

The American Eclectic Materia Medica and Therapeutics, 1898, was written by John M. Scudder, M.D.