Colonial North America: Countway Library of Medicine

558

Materia Medica

Diuretics

but in my opinion it is a sedative & stimulant, and from observation of its effects in Dr Mores inaugural Dissertation upon fox glove some of his experiments are related, from one account it appears one of his friends took grs iij [3 grains] of Digitalis his pulse being at 64 in 5 minutes it was at 66 in (Min/Beets) 10/66, 15/68, 20/70, 35/72, 45/70, 55/68, 85/66, 100/62, 120/60, 135/53. In 15 minutes says the Dr the patient perceived sense of heat at the stomach, in 25 minutes the pulse was evidently fuller, in 65 the pulse was diminish'd in force, in 70 minutes there was a nausea, which combin’d the rest of the day, the experiments of Dr More are conclusive and have been repeated in England with similar effects, though I hold its primary effects to be stimulating yet I think the medicine may be so managed as to obtain its sedative effect, the most considerable of its properties is its power over the heart and arteries its effects are more perminent than that of tobacco. I now proceed to speak of the diseases in which Digitalis is employ’d and first of its use in.

Dropsy. Dr Darwin and Dr Wethering were the first persons who used Digitalis in Dropsy. Haller and Booerhave were acquainted with it but would not employ it, it seems to be usefull in every kind of Dropsy, but it is better adapted to some of them than others, it is verry usefull in Hydrathorax and Anasarca, in Hydrathorax