the first patient for whom you
prescribed the Digitalis in our neighbourhood, and I have found them
all necessary at this present period. From the _decided_ good effects
that followed from its use, in those cases where the most powerful
remedies had failed, I was soon convinced it was a most valuable
addition to the materia medica.

The want of a certain diuretic, has long been one of the desiderata of
medicine. The Digitalis is undoubtedly at the head of that class, and
will seldom, if properly administered, disappoint the expectation. I
can speak with the more confidence, having, in an extensive practice,
been a happy witness to its good qualities.

For several years, I have given the infusion in a variety of cases,
where there was a deficiency in the secretion of the urine, with the
greatest success. In recent obstructions, I do not recollect many
failures. In anasarcous diseases, and in the anasarca, when combined
with the ascites; in swellings of the limbs, and in diseases of the
chest, when there was the greatest reason to believe an accumulation
of serum, the most beneficial consequences have followed from its use.

Had I been earlier acquainted with your intention to publish an
account of the Digitalis, I could have transmitted some cases, which
might have served to corroborate these assertions: but I am convinced
the Digitalis needs not my assistance to procure a favorable
reception. Its own merit will ensure success, more than a hundred
recited cases.

I could wish those gentlemen who intend to make use of this plant, to
collect it in a hot dry day, when the petals fall, and the
seed-vessels begin to swell.

The leaves kept to the second year are weaker, and their diuretic
qualities much diminished. It will therefore be necessary to gather
the plant fresh every season.

These cautions are unnecessary to the accurate botanist, who well
knows, that a plant in the spring, though more succulent and full of
juices, is destitute of those qualities which may be expected when
that plant has attained its full vigour, and the seed-vessels begin to
be manifest. But for want of attention to these particulars, its
virtues may be thought exaggerated, or doubtful, if beneficial
consequences do not always flow from its use. There are diseases it
cannot cure; and in several of those patients in this town, who first
took the Digitalis by your orders, there was the most positive proof
of the viscera being unsound. In th