Wet Engine by Brian Doyle

Author:Brian Doyle [Doyle, Brian]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780870716546
Publisher: Oregon State University Press

Because every part of mearacan dearg contains the glycosides digitoxin, gitoxin, and digoxin, distillates of foxglove were used as laxatives for centuries before Billy Withering realized its salutary ends; but because each of those glycosides is poisonous in large doses, many of the people given heroic doses of distillate of foxglove for their bowel troubles promptly died. The meticulous Withering listed the parade of symptoms in patients overdosed with foxglove powder: “vomiting, giddiness, confused vision, objects appearing green or yellow; increased secretion of urine, with frequent motions to part with it, and sometimes inability to retain it; slow pulse, even as slow as 35 in a minute, cold sweats, syncope, death.” Which is why Withering prescribed tiny doses to his patients. Nearly a century later a German doctor named Traube arrived at an accurate measurement of effect: digitalis in doses smaller than two milligrams stimulates the heart muscle beneficially, but doses larger than two milligrams stimulates it too strenuously, to the point where paralysis often results.

In other words: a little poison is good for the heart.

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