William Withering was an English physician and botanist who practiced at Birmingham General Hospital in the late eighteenth century and belonged to the Lunar Society of Birmingham alongside figures such as Erasmus Darwin and Joseph Priestley. He identified extract of foxglove, or digitalis, as an effective treatment for dropsy, the fluid retention now understood as a symptom of congestive heart failure, after learning of its use in a family herbal remedy and then testing it systematically. His 1785 book, An Account of the Foxglove and Some of Its Medical Uses, documented 156 cases and worked out safe and effective dosing, making it an early example of medicine built on organized clinical observation rather than folk use alone.
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William Withering discovered digitalis (foxglove) as a treatment for heart failure.
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1. Wikidata: William Withering
- Wikidata Q715949, class allow-list match (w-wdresolver-0926)
- Wikidata P569 (w-bbfill-medicine3-0926)
View the Source2. William Withering, Wikipedia
Lead sentence, birth year
17 March 1741
Lead sentence, death year
6 October 1799
Lead sentence, birth date
17 March 1741
Lead sentence, death date
6 October 1799
View the SourceFrequently Asked Questions
How did William Withering discover that foxglove treats dropsy?
He learned of foxglove in a family herbal remedy and then tested it systematically.
William Withering, an English physician and botanist at Birmingham General Hospital, identified extract of foxglove, or digitalis, as an effective treatment for dropsy after learning of its use in a family herbal remedy. He did not simply adopt the folk remedy. He then tested it systematically. Dropsy, the fluid retention he was treating, is now understood as a symptom of congestive heart failure. This record describes what Withering held and did in the eighteenth century and is not medical advice.
Why is Withering's 1785 book on the foxglove still remembered?
It documented 156 cases and worked out safe and effective dosing.
His 1785 book, An Account of the Foxglove and Some of Its Medical Uses, documented 156 cases and worked out safe and effective dosing. That made it an early example of medicine built on organized clinical observation rather than folk use alone. Withering also belonged to the Lunar Society of Birmingham, alongside figures such as Erasmus Darwin and Joseph Priestley.
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