Editorial

on the use of foxglove in the treatment of edema, presenting a scientific account of the use of an herb previously administered by lay healers. By the turn of this century pharlma-cologic and clinical bases were laid for the use of digitalis and its specific action upon cardiac edema was firmly established. Mac-kenzie and Lewis emphasized the beneficial effect of digitalis in slowing the ventricular rate in atrial fibrillation and questioned its usefulness in patients with regular rhythm, but by 1940 the effectiveness of the drug in heart failure, regardless of rhythm, was gen-erally recognized and interest developed in the purified digitalis glycosides that were thought to be safer and easier to administer than the leaf. The recent development of new research tools and technics led to an unprece-dented number of investigations concerning digitalis: between 1951 and 1955 more than 1,300 articles dealing with digitalis and its derivatives were listed.' Technical advances made possible the study of the effect of digitalis on the contractile proteins and myocardial energy release, on ionic exchange and cellular action potential. The fate and distribution of glycosides were investigated in animals and man by use of sensitive bioassay methods and isotope-tagge