2009/06/01 by W. O Goldthorp · 1 citation
Social Sciences · #Historical and Literary Studies
paper · doi:10.1136/bmj.b2189
openalex publication_date 2009/06/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30
William Withering, discover of digitalis, began practising as a doctor in Stafford in 1767. It was a small practice, and he found time to study flowers, which were painted for him by Helena Cook, who became his wife. He soon moved to Birmingham, where his first book, A Botanical Arrangement , was published in 1776. It went through several editions and was still in print 101 years later. In 1775 Withering, whose father was an apothecary, was given a secret family recipe for the treatment of dropsy. Withering realised that the active ingredient was the foxglove. This he tried out on his patients over the years in different preparations …