Lunar Society and the discovery of digitalis

William Withering was an established member of the renowned Lunar Society as well as an accomplished physician and botanist. Withering was an obsessive note taker and had a compulsion to observe and record. At the time when bleeding was the most common form of treatment for "dropsy", Withering's discovery of the foxglove and his detailed description of its medicinal purposes represented a major advance in the treatment of patients with heart failure. Withering's scrupulous account of the foxglove's potential for treating conditions of the heart was derived from dedicated study, experimentation, and deep concern for detail. The publication of "An Account of the Foxglove, and Some of its Medical Uses: with practical remarks on dropsy, and other diseases" marks a defining moment in the history of medicine.