The plant contains the glycosides: digoxin and digitoxin (digitalin) and is highly toxic. Digoxin is extracted from the leaves of biennial plants and is used in the treatment of certain cardiac arrhythmias (atrial fibrillation) and (increasingly less so) in the treatment of heart failure. This application was first described by English physician William Withering (1741-1799) of Birmingham, who observed that an herbal mixture from a local herbal healer ("old Mother Hutton" from Shropshire) was very effective for severe oedema of the legs. He discovered that foxglove was the effective ingredient in the mixture and published this finding in 1785 in his book "An Account of the Foxglove and some of its Medical Uses". Although he recommended the remedy for oedemas and its mode of action was not known to him, he did note that it slows the pulse: "it has a power over the motion of the heart, to a degree yet unobserved in any other medicine, and (...) this power may be converted to salutary ends".
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Bill Brandt, English photographer (1904 - 1983)..
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