Glass bottle with glass stopper, containing white powder residue. Labelled "Pil. Dig. Co". Probably once contained pills of digitalis leaves compound. First mention found in an 1874 book on the organic matter in the British Pharmacopoeia, this mentions a preparation of powder from dried digitalis purpurea (purple foxglove), but not its application. A modern herbal website states that "Digitalis increases the activity of all forms of muscle tissue, but more especially that of the heart and arterioles. The arterioles become constricted and blood pressure in consequence rises. Upon the heart it exerts a double action; the diastole is prolonged on account of vagus stimulation, and the efficiency of systole is much increased, so that in spite of the slowing the output of blood per minute is augmented. Digitalis is employed in most forms of cardiac failure."