| An Account of the Foxglove, and Some of Its Medical Uses: With Practical Remarks on Dropsy and Other Diseases Contributor(s): Withering, William (Author) |
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ISBN: 110807586X ISBN-13: 9781108075862 Publisher: Cambridge University Press OUR PRICE: $41.79 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: September 2014 |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Science | Life Sciences - Botany - Medical | History - Literary Collections |
| Dewey: 615.32 |
| Series: Cambridge Library Collection - Botany and Horticulture |
| Physical Information: 0.54" H x 5.5" W x 8.5" (0.67 lbs) 236 pages |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: In 1775, the physician and botanist William Withering (1741-99) was informed of a folk cure for dropsy that had as its active ingredient the plant foxglove (Digitalis purpurea). Ten years later, after thorough trials on more than 150 patients, Withering published this monograph on the medicinal applications of the plant, not least to keep less experienced doctors from administering it to patients without the proper caution, given the plant's toxicity. Withering was the first doctor to employ foxglove as a remedy for congestive heart failure, which is now the primary disease treated by foxglove-derived pharmaceuticals, and the results from his trials broadly reflect those produced by modern physicians. Withering's first major publication, A Botanical Arrangement of All the Vegetables Naturally Growing in Great Britain (1776), which includes observations on the medicinal applications of British plants, is also reissued in this series. |