An Account of the Foxglove and Some of Its Medical Uses: Practical Remarks on Dropsy and Other Diseases.

Abstract

Not so long ago in a catalogue of rare old medical books, I saw for sale a first edition of Withering's<i>An Account of the Foxglove and Some of Its Medical Uses: Practical Remarks on Dropsy and Other Diseases</i>which was offered for more hundreds of dollars than I had ever seen or heard of lying around loose on terrain I control. I realized that this was out of my range and I was out of my depth. With the whimsical heroics of the academic posture I thought about other things. But not very long after this sad confrontation with facts, I found a facsimile edition, a true and exact reproduction of the original, including the beautiful frontispiece of the plant,<i>Digitalis purpurea</i>. This book, though not cheap, was within the boundaries of the possible. I obtained it. I had the eerie pleasure of cutting the leaves, something I must