Solanacea). Habitat.-Europe and Asia; naturalized in North
America.

CHARACTERS.-About 5 mm., or less, thick, cylindrical, somewhat angular, longitudinally striate, more or less warty, usually hollow in the centre, cut into short sections. The thin bark is externally pale greenish, or light greenish brown, marked with alternate leaf-scars, and internally green; the greenish or yellowish wood forms one or two concentric rings. Odor slight; taste bitter, afterwards sweet.

COMPOSITION.-(1) Solanine, C2HNO15, the active alkaloid. (2) Dulcamarin, C2H3O10, 0.4 per cent. a glucoside, soluble in water and Alcohol, and yielding frothy solutions. (4) Gum.

Dose, 4 to 8 gm.; 1 to 2 dr.

(3) Resin.

Extractum Dulcamaræ Fluidum (U. S. P., 1890).-Fluidextract of Dulcamara. By maceration and percolation with diluted Alcohol, and evaporation.

Dose, 4 to 8 c.c.; 1 to 2 fl. dr.

ACTION.

Diuretic; diaphoretic; in large doses it is an acro-narcotic poison.

USES.

Cutaneous eruptions, particularly of a scaly character; it is seldom prescribed.

DIGITALIS. Synonym.-Foxglove. The dried leaves of Digitalis purpurea Linné (Fam. Scrophulariacea), collected from plants of the second year's growth, at the commencement of flowering. Habitat.Europe, in sandy soil and the edges of woods.

CHARACTERS.-Usually in more or less crumpled and broken fragments; ovate to oval, from 10 to 30 cm. long, 5 to 15 cm. broad, abruptly contracted into a winged petiole from 5 to 10 cm. long; thin, dull and rather pale-green or grayish underneath; upper surface wrinkled, sparsely hairy; lower surface densely and finely hairy, the venation conspicuously reticulated; margin crenate or erose-dentate; the midrib and principal veins broad and flat, usually purplish, the lower veins continued into the wings of the petiole; odor slight, characteristic; taste strongly bitter. In the powder, stone-cells, star-shaped hairs, and Calcium Oxalate crystals are absent. Resembling Digitalis leaves.-Matico leaves, which are more deeply reticulated.

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COMPOSITION.-The chief constituents are-(1) Digitoxin, a glucoside, crystallizable, the most active principle, very poisonous, cumulative. Insoluble in water, sparingly in Ether, easily in Chloroform and Alcohol. Exists as minute white crystals. Dose, .00025 to .00125 gm.; 1 to gr. (2) Digitalin, a crystalline glucoside, possessing in a high degree the actions of Digitalis. It is also called Digitalinum Verum. Soluble in water, 1 in 1000. Dose, .0003 to .0006 gm.; to ro gr. subcutaneously. (3) Digitalein, an amorphous glucoside, not yet proved to be a definite chemical substance, soluble in water, and therefore suitable for hypodermatic injections; dose hypodermatically .0006 gm.; To gr., said to be non-cumulative. These three glucosides are said to represent the cardiac stimulating action of the drug. (4) Digitonin, CHO13, a glucoside closely allied both chemically and physiologically to, and perhaps identical with, the Saponin of Senega (q. v.). Dose, .0002 to .006 gm.; too gr. This is a cardiac depressant, and is therefore antagonistic to the other active principles. (5) Digitin, a glucoside devoid of physiological action. All these five glucosides are non-nitrogenous. (6) Two acids, Digitalic and Antirrhinic. (7) Other usual constituents of plants, as tannic acid, volatile oil, coloring matter, starch, sugar, gum, salts. It will be noticed that Digitalis contains no Alkaloids.

Τ

The following substances, all soluble in alcohol, are met with in commerce: (A) Homolle's Digitalin (same as Quevenne's), an amorphous yellowish-white powder or small scales, intensely bitter, inodorous, but irritating to the nostrils. Soluble in 2000 parts of water. Consists chiefly of Digitalin with a little Digitoxin. Possesses the action of the leaves. Granules of it are much used in France; each usually contains .001 gm.; gr., which is equal to .10 gm.; 12 gr., of the powdered leaves. (B) Nativelle's Digitalin, CH10O1, light, white, crystalline tufts of needles, very bitter. Soluble in Chloroform and in

Alcohol, not in Water or Ether. It consists very largely of Digitoxin and is cumulative. Dose, .001 to .002 gm.; to gr., in a pill. (C) German Digitalinum Purum. Dose, .001 to .002 gm.; to 3 gr., soluble in water. Consisting of Digitalein, with some digitalin and digitonin. (D) Digitoxin, already described. (E) Digitalin, already described. None of the above constituents is official.

INCOMPATIBLES.-Ferric salts, lead acetate, cinchona, acids, alkalies, alkaloidal precipitants, tannin and other vegetable astringents. Dose, 0.065 gm. (65 milligm.); 1 gr.

Preparations.

1. Fluidextractum Digitalis.—Fluidextract of Digitalis. By maceration and percolation with Diluted Alcohol, and evaporation.

Dose, 0.05 c.c.; 1 m.

2. Extractum Digitalis.-Extract of Digitalis. By evaporation of the Fluidextract to a pilular consistence.

Dose, 0.010 gm. (10 milligm.); % gr.

3. Infusum Digitalis.-Infusion of Digitalis. Digitalis, 15; Cinnamon Water, 150; boiling water, 500; Alcohol, 100; cold water to 1000.

Dose, 8 c.c.; 2 fl. dr.

4. Tinctura Digitalis.—Tincture of Digitalis. Digitalis, 100; Diluted Alcohol to 1000. By maceration and percolation.

Dose, 1 c.c.; 15 m.

As the proportion of the many constituents varies in the preparations, some prefer always to give the powdered leaves.

It is a gastro-intestinal irritant. It slows the beat of the heart; the diastole is prolonged, the force of the systole increased, and the size of the individual pulse-wave is also increased. Under digitalis the work done by the heart is much greater than normal, and the slowness developed is not suffi

cient to counter-balance the increased output at each ventricular contraction. Later, if enough of the drug has been taken, the heart's action becomes extremely fast and irregular, the strength of the ventricular contractions diminishes, and the output of the heart rapidly declines. Digitalis is preeminently a vasoconstrictor, and it causes a marked rise in blood-pressure; under toxic doses the pressure diminishes with the extreme slowing of the heart, but, as the organ becomes accelerated, it again rises to a pronounced degree. Finally, as the heart becomes irregular, the blood-pressure declines until it reaches zero, when the heart stops. In health the diuretic effect is not marked, and seems to be due to the cardiac action of the drug. Under therapeutic doses the only action upon the central nervous system appears to be the stimulation of the inhibitory cardiac and the vaso-motor centres in the medulla, but poisonous doses affect other centres, and general convulsions may eventually result. Finally, the motor nerve-trunks are depressed and the muscles are paralyzed. While the cerebrum is not directly affected, the disturbances caused in its circulation are liable to give rise to severe headache, excessive vomiting, dizziness, vertigo, confusion of sight, and possibly hallucinations and delirium. A peculiar blue color of the sclerotic has been quite constantly noted in acute poisoning.

USES.

The most important use of digitalis is in diseases of the heart; it is indicated, in general, when the cardiac action is rapid and feeble, with low arterial tension, and contraindicated when the cardiac action is strong and the arterial tension high. It not only slows and steadies the heart, but also improves the nutrition of its walls. It should be administered with caution, and should always be stopped as soon as symptoms of gastrointestinal irritation occur, or the pulse becomes abnormally slow. It has a cumulative effect, and should not be given too long continuously. It is especially valuable in cases of mitral disease in which compensation has begun to fail and in which

there is dropsy; when cardiac dropsy is present digitalis is usually an efficient diuretic. In diseases of the aortic valve it is of much less benefit, and is often entirely contraindicated. Still, the indication for giving or withholding digitalis is not so much the particular valvular lesion present as the effects which have been produced by this upon the cardiac wall. The constriction of the peripheral vessels caused by the drug may, when necessary, be counteracted to a considerable extent by the simultaneous administration of remedies causing vasodilatation, such as the nitrites. Digitalis is much used also in cardiac affections which are not due to valvular disease, and is highly esteemed in the weakness of the heart resulting from various acute diseases and from such causes as hæmorrhage, poisoning, injury and shock. Other conditions in which it is employed are, acute desquamative nephritis, chronic nephritis when there is dilatation of the left ventricle with mitral regurgitation, exophthalmic goitre, chronic bronchitis, pneumonia, scarlet fever, chronic alcoholism, nocturnal seminal emissions, and certain hæmorrhages, including those from the uterus. The tincture of digitalis sometimes occasions much gastric disturbance, and under the supposition that this may be due in part, if not wholly, to the fixed oil of the leaf and its free acids, a so-called fat-free tincture has been prepared in which these two principles are eliminated.

LEPTANDRA.

LEPTANDRA. Synonym.-Culver's Root. The dried rhizome and roots of Veronica virginica Linné (Fam. Scrophulariacea). Habitat.— United States, south to Georgia, and west to Minnesota, in low grounds.

CHARACTERS.-Rhizome of horizontal or oblique growth, from 4 to 15 cm. long, and 3 to 8 mm. thick, somewhat bent and branched, gray-brown to blackish-brown, with cup-shaped scars on the upper side, hard, of a woody fracture, with a thin, blackish bark, a hard, yellowish wood, and a large, purplish-brown, about six-rayed pith; roots thin, longitudinally wrinkled, fragile; odor slight; taste bitter, feebly acrid.

COMPOSITION. The chief constituents are (1) Leptandrin, a bitter, crystalline glucoside. (2) A saccharine principle having the properties of Mannite. (3) Possibly a volatile alkaloid.

Dose, 1 gm.; 15 gr.