FOXGLOVE, Digitalis purpure IT is proper that the fox should be
provided with a glove, for, as a midnight marauder, a muffled
hand may be of the first importance in the prosecution of his
business. Opinions differ as to the precise meaning of the
familiar name of this, the noblest of our British wildings; the
botanical name Digitalis is of German origin--that is to say, a
German botanist fitted the plant with a Latin name, because up
to his time, 1542, it had not been recognized in either Greek or
Latin. Dr. Prior is decisive about "foxglove;" but for all that,
those learned in the definition of names have had much to say
about it. Digitalis is from digitabulum, meaning "thimble;" and
the flower may be likened to the simple household appliance for
the comfort of a wounded digit known as a "thumb-stall," or soft
thimble. But what does the fox want with such a thing? The
assumption with which we open this paper, that as a footpad he
would like to follow his trade quietly, seems not to help us
much, even in the