DIGHTON ROCK. 248 DIGNE. Alallcry in the tentli aiiiuinl report of the bureau (ISSS-SO, pp. 8.5, 7t)2, ami pi. liv.j. The inscrip- tion is now nearly obliterated. It was probably an Indian iietroglyph. DIGIT, dij'it (Lat. ditiilus, finper). A term applied to the ten symbols of number, 0, 1, 2, . . . 9. Thus, 305 is said to be a number of three digits. Early raees were accustomed to indicate numbers by their tinjiers, and linger-reck- oning (sec 1'"i.m;er Symboli.sm) i)layed a great ])art in mcditpval computation ; hence the name digit. t)rigihally the term was applied more generally to the nine numbers. 1, 2, . . . 9, and it has also been applied to the characters themselves. The term occurs in a work attrib- uted to Boethius, and was common throughout the Middle Ages, the numbers 10. 20, . . . no being called 'articles,' and combinations of articles and digits being called 'composites.' As- tronomers use the temi digit to signify a twelfth part of the diameter of the sun or moon, and speak of an eclipse of seven digits, meaning that seven-twelfths of the diameter is covered. See KlMpR.ALS. DIGITALIN, dij'I-ta'lin (from Xeo-Lat. digi- talis). Due of the glucosides found in the leaves of the foxglove {Digitalis purpurea) , growing in Europe. It is a crystalline substance sparingly soluble in water and in ether, and constitutes one of the active principles of digitalis. The com- mercial Jlomollc's iJigitnliii, or Oufvenne's Digi- talin, consists largely of digitalin and is used ia France as a substitute for digitalis leaves. The substance known as Sativillc's Digitalin consists principally of digitoxin, another poisonous glu- coside. DIGITALIS, dlj-i-talls (Lat. digitalis, per- taining to the finger, from digitus, finger: in allusion to the shape o£ (lowers). A genus of plants of the natural order Scrophulariacese (Linnf'), tribe Digitalese, natives diielly of the soutli of Europe and western and middle Asia, characterized by o. five-deft calyx, campanulatc, ventrieose corolla, upper lip rcdexed. capsule two- celled, flowers in showy racemes. One, the com- mon foxglove (Digitalis purpurea) . is a native of Great Britain, and is very abundant in some parts of the country, its large purple flowers often giving a gay appearance to dry hanks and steep hills. The purple-flowered, white-llowered, and yellow-flowered varieties are cultivated in America. Digitalis purpurea is much valued in medicine. The leaves of the second year's growth are the parts used. They are narcotic and poi- sonous. The leaves have a disagreeable smell whfii fresh and a bitter, nauseous taste, and are violently emetic and cathartic; but when dried and administered in small doses they are diu- retic, and therefore sometimes useful in dropsy; and are still more valuable on account of their power over the action of the heart and the circu- lation of the blood, and are used in some diseases of the heart, in the second stage of pneumonia, in cardiac weakness from collapse, and as the antidote in aconite poisoning. Digitalis owes its efficiency to variois alkaloids and other sub- stances, some crystalline, known as digitalin, dipitalein, digitoxin. di};it<min. and digitin. Digi- toxin. probably, is the actively poisonous agent. Digitalin fulfills all the olfices of digitalis in in- fluencing the heart and the circulatory system, and is less dangerous. But the ilrug 'should never he given except by a physician, who can under* stand in which cases it is applicable. In some cases of heart disease it is fatal. In some cases FOXOLOVK. it has a cumulative action with fatal results. The ollicial preparations of digitalis are a tinc- ture, an infusion, a fluid extract, an abstract, a solid extract, and the powdered leaves. DIGITIGRADA, dljl-tl-gra'dii (Neo-Lat. noni. ]il.. liom l.at. digitus, linger, toe + gradi, to walk). In the zoidogical system of Cuvier, one of the tribes of Carnivora, distinguished by walking on the toes alone, the heel not touching the ground. The word is no longer used as the name of a groiip, but in llie adjective form de- scribes those animals which walk wholly on the toes as opposed to 'plantigrade' or walking on the whole sole of the foot. Most mammals are more or less completely digitigrade. DIGITORIUM, (lij'i-tr/rl-um. See ri.NO- FOHTI-. DIGNE, dA'ny' (T.at. Diiiio, Oall. din, fort). The capital of the Dei>artnient of Basses-Alpes, France, on the Blfone, 00 miles northeast of Mar- seilles (Map: I'rance, N 7). It occupies n pic- turesque situation upon a mountain slope, and is encircled by walls, but its streets are narrow, crooked, and steep. It contains a catheilral. a handsome modern lycC'C, and a public library. Among its chief nianifacturcs are articles of leather, and it has a trade in dried fruits, honey, wax, woolen and linen doth, kid-skins, etc. In the neighborhood there are several hot saline springs, temi>erature 104° F, Of Dinia, which is
