Digitalis (second of four parts).

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Hemodynamic StudiesContractile Response of the Myocardium to Cardiac GlycosidesNineteenth-century investigators generally overlooked what is now considered to be the major action of digitalis, its augmentation of the force of myocardial contraction. They focused instead on alterations in rhythm and rate, effects on the vagus nerve, and an elusive and ill defined concept, "cardiac tone." Clinicians did not recommend the drug for heart failure with slow normal rhythm, but reserved it for patients with rapid heart rates. Gradually, during the early years of the 20th century, a series of clinical observations led to the realization that the beneficial effects . . .