Digitalis purpurea
as H.C. Allen recorded it in Keynotes and Characteristics with Comparisons of Some of the Leading Remedies of the Materia Medica, 1899
Foxglove
This is one author on one remedy. The few symptoms that, when genuinely present, point at one remedy and not its neighbours. Read Digitalis purpurea in every book at once →
Keynotes
Digitalis purpurea
Foxglove. Scrophulariaceae.
Sudden flushes of heat, followed by great nervous weakness and irregular intermitting pulse, occurring at the climacteric; < by least motion.
Weak heart without valvular complications. Sensation as if heart would stop heating if she moved (Cocaine — fears that unless constantly on the move heart will cease beating. Gels.).
Faintness or sinking at the stomach; exhaustion; extreme prostration; feels as if he were dying.
Nightly emissions, with great weakness of genitals after coitus.
Great weakness of chest, cannot bear to talk ( Stan. ) .
Stools : very light, ash-colored ; delayed, chalky (CheL, Pod.) ; almost white (Cal., Cinch.) ; pipe-stem stool; involuntary.
Pulse full, irregular, very slow and weak; intermitting every third, fifth or seventh beat.
Face pale, deathlike appearance and bluish-red.
Bhieness of skin, eyelids, lips, tongue; cyanosis.
Distended veins on lids, ears, lips and tongue.
Respiration irregular, difficult, deep sighing.
The fingers “go to sleep” frequently and easily.
Dropsy : post-scarlatinal ; in Bright’s disease ; with suppression of urine; of internal and external parts; with fainting when there are organic affections of the heart (with soreness in uterine region, Conv.).
Fatal syncope may occur when being raised to upright position.
Relations. — Cinchona antidotes the direct action of Digitalis and increases the anxiety.
Aggravation. — When sitting, especially when sitting erect; motion.
What the other books say about Digitalis purpurea
The same remedy read by a different author. They disagree, and the disagreements are where the remedy becomes recognisable.
- Digitalis purpurea in Boericke — The concise clinical Materia Medica that most Indian colleges teach from, in full.
- Digitalis purpurea in Farrington — Lectures that teach remedies in families, by comparing them with each other.
- Digitalis purpurea in Kent — Kent teaching a class, one remedy at a time — fewer remedies, far more on each.
- Digitalis purpurea in Boger — A compressed key — the generals and the characteristic modalities, with very little narrative.
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Cite this page. H.C. Allen. Keynotes and Characteristics with Comparisons of Some of the Leading Remedies of the Materia Medica. 3rd edition (1910). Philadelphia: Boericke & Tafel. Digitalis purpurea — Keynotes, p. 112. HomeopathyWorld, https://homeopathyworld.in/materia-medica/books/allen/digitalis-purpurea. Published 1910: public domain in the US (before 1931) and in India (author died 1909). Replaces B. Jain's 2005 "rearranged and classified" edition (© the publisher), per the owner's decision of 13 Sep 2026. Reproduced as the author wrote it; a historical reference for students and practitioners, not medical advice.