The first known heart medicine
was discovered in an English garden. In 1799, physician John Ferriar
noted the effect of dried leaves of the common plant, digitalis
purpurea, on heart action. The scientific name means "finger-like"
and refers to the ease with which a flower of digitalis purpurea can
be fitted over a human fingertip. The term digitalis is also used
for drug preparations that contain cardiac glycosides, particularly
one called digoxin, extracted from various plants of this genus.
Digoxin was approved for heart failure in 1998. Also, a group of
medicines extracted from foxglove plants are called Digitalin.
Once the usefulness of digitalis in regulating the human pulse was
understood, it was employed for a variety of purposes, including the
treatment of epilepsy and other seizure disorders, but is now
considered to be inappropriate treatment. The most common
prescription form of this medication is called digoxin. Digitoxin is
another form of digitalis.