The Elimination of the Digitalis Bodies

The digitalis bodies show such wide differences in the duration of their action, even after intravenous administration, that one would be inclined to expect similar variations in their rate of elimination. The difficulties attending the quantitative chemical estimation of these bodies have interfered with the investigation of their elimination, and we know almost nothing of their fate in the organism. Numerous observers have investigated the question of the storage of these glucosids in various organs, and, while I also have considered that phase of the question, the present paper will be limited almost entirely to a discussion of the disappearance of these agents from the circulation. It may be remarked parenthetically, however, that the rat sometimes excretes ouabain almost quantitatively after its subcutaneous injection, and that no one has been able to demonstrate either the fixation or the destruction of notable amounts of any of the digitalis bodies in the