a glove. The word
digitalis refers likewise to the digits, or fingers of a gauntlet. In
France the title is _Gants de Notre Dame_, the gloves of our Lady
the Virgin. Some writers give Folks' Glove, or Fairies' Glove as the
proper English orthography, but this is wrong. Our name of the
plant comes really from the Anglo-Saxon, Foxesglew or Fox music,
in allusion to an ancient musical instrument composed of bells
which were hanging from an arched support, _a tintinnabulum_,
which this plant with its pendent bell-shaped flowers so exactly
represents.

In Ireland the Foxglove is known as the Great Herb, and Lusmore,
also the Fairy Cap; and in Wales it is the Goblin's Gloves; whilst in
the North of Scotland it is the Dead men's Bells. We read in the
_Lady of the Lake_ there grew by Loch Katrine:--

"Night shade and Foxglove side by side,
Emblems of punishment and pride."

In Devonshire the plant is termed Poppy, because when one of the
bell-shaped flowers is inflated by the breath whilst the top edges are
held firmly together; the wind bag thus formed, if struck smartly
against the other hand, goes off with a sounding pop. The peasantry
also call it "Flop a dock." Strangely enough, the Foxglove, so
handsome and striking in a landscape, is not [206] mentioned by
Shakespeare, or by either of the old English poets. The "long
purples" of Shakespeare refers to the _orchis mascula_.

Chemically, the Foxglove contains a dangerous, active, medicinal
principle _digitalin_, which acts powerfully on the heart, and on the
kidneys, but this should never be given in any preparation of the
plant except under medical guidance, and then only with much
caution. Parkinson speaks highly of the bruised herb, or of its
expressed juice, for scrofulous swellings when applied outwardly in
the form of an ointment. An officinal tincture is made from the
plants collected in the spring, when two years old; also, in some
villages the infusion is employed as a homely remedy to cure a cold,
the herb being known as "Throttle Wort;" but this is not a safe thing
to do, for medical experience shows that the watery infusion of
Foxglove acts much more powerfully than the spirituous tincture,
which is eight times stronger, and from this fact it may fairly be
inferred that the presence of alcohol, as in the tincture, directly
opposes the specific action of the plant. This herb bears further in
some districts the names "Flop Top," "Cow Flop," and "Fla