Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VI.djvu/115

 DIGITIGRADES DIJON 107 __j, and grayish brown. Its active principle is digitaline, a white, inodorous bitter sub- stance, which crystallizes with difficulty in microscopic plates. It is sparingly soluble in water, moderately soluble in ether, freely so in alcohol. Its composition has not been de- termined with certainty. The most charac- teristic test is the beautiful pure green color which it assumes when added to a small quantity of phosphoric acid, concentrated as much as possible on a watch glass, the acid at the same time turning yellow. The effect of digitalis has been tried on dogs, horses, rabbits, turkeys, domestic fowl, and frogs, and on all it has been found to act as a poison. The cerebro-spinal symptoms observed in ani- mals are diminished muscular power, convul- sive movements, tremors, and insensibility. When given in small doses to man, it is found to exercise a remarkable influence over the circulation, frequently reducing the pulse from 70 or 80 to 40 or 50 beats in the minute. Ac- cording to recent views, the beats of the heart, although retarded by digitalis, are rendered more vigorous by it, and at the same time the smaller arteries are contracted, so that their tension is maintained, and in some diseases increased, in spite of the slow pulse. The therapeutic effects of digitalis, including its diuretic action, depend almost wholly upon the improved tone of the heart and blood ves- sels which it brings about. Small doses of it in health generally, but not always, increase the water of the urine to a slight degree, the solids undergoing but little change. When poisonous doses are approximated, the force of the heart and tension of the arteries fall, and the pulse becomes first irregular, and afterward rapid. Nausea and vomiting are early toxic symptoms. It should be borne in mind that a toxic condition may be suddenly developed during the use of digitalis as a medicine, in consequence of its accumulation in the sys- tem. Its undoubted beneficial effects in organ- ic diseases of the heart can in most cases be best attained and preserved by keeping the dose strictly within the limits of what has just been described as the first stage of its action ; that is, the stage in which the tension of the blood vessels is maintained. Digitalis is used chiefly in organic diseases of the heart, to ful- fil indications suggested above. Its effect in dropsies, and possibly in some nervous affec- tions, is secondary. The infusion, tincture, leaves in powder, and granules of digitaline are all used in medicine. Its effects may also be obtained by the application to the abdomi- nal surface of cloths steeped in an infusion of it. The dose of the infusion is about a table- spoonful ; of the powdered leaves, a grain ; of the tincture, 10 to 15 drops ; of digitaline, -^ of a grain. Large quantities of digitalis are quite inert, either from too long keeping or from having been taken from immature plants. m DIGITIGRADES, the tribe of the typical car- nivora, so called because they walk on the ends of the toes, as distinguished from the plantigrades, which, like the bear, place the whole foot upon the ground. This tribe in- cludes the mustelidce or weasels, the canidce or dogs, and the felidce or cats. All have the cheek teeth with cutting edges, the lower shutting within the upper, dividing the flesh of their prey like the blades of scissors. As their food would indicate, they have a simple stomach and a short intestine. Their carniv- orous propensity may be measured by the tubercle or heel on the lower carnivorous tooth, and the number of false molars in front and of tuberculous teeth behind it ; those hav- ing the simplest carnivorous teeth, and the fewest molars in front and behind, like the cats and the weasels, are the most sanguinary. The characteristic marks in the skeleton are the long metacarpus and metatarsus, the ele- vation of the os calcis, and the shortness of the phalanges which alone rest upon the ground ; and in the cats, the retractile claws. The extremities are formed for leaping and springing ; from the pelvis as the fixed point, the three portions of the limbs are movable in alternately opposite directions ; by the simul- taneous flexion of these joints, and their sud- den extension by powerful muscles, the great- est force is given to the spring, the elevated and elongated heel affording the principal me- chanical advantage in the digitigrade foot. DIGNE (an'c. Dinia a town of Provence, France, capital of the department of Basses- Alpes, situated near the Bleone, 69 m. N. N. E. of Marseilles ; pop. in 1866, 7,002. It is the seat of- a Catholic bishop, a court of the first resort, a communal college, a theological semi- nary, and a normal school. It has a public library of about 3,000 volumes, and manufac- tories of leather, cloth, and hats. Its situation is picturesque, but the streets are crooked, and the houses very poor. In 1629 the plague re- duced the population from 10,000 to 1,500. DIJON (anc. Divio), a town of France, for- merly capital of the duchy of Burgundy, now of the department of Cote-d'Or, situated at the confluence of the rivers Ouche and Suzon, on the railway from Paris to Lyons, 160 m. S. E. of Paris ; pop. in 1866, 39,193. It is of an oval form, with several suburbs, and lies at the foot of a chain of mountains in a fertile vale. It is generally well built, has numerous hand- some public places and elegant houses, is en- closed by ramparts, and its environs furnish delightful promenades. It contains many re- markable buildings, the principal of which are the cathedral, formerly the Cistercian abbey of St. Benigne, a massive edifice founded in 535 and rebuilt in the 12th century, and again in the 13th, which contains the magnificent mausoleums of Philip the Bold and of John the Fearless; the church of Notre Dame, built in the 13th and 14th centuries; the church of St. Michael, which dates from the 16th century, remarkable for its front and its castle-like solidity ; an ancient castle, the work