Withering demonstrated 200 years ago in the year 1784 that "drop sy" could be successfully treated with foxglove extracts. This dis covery eventually led to the scientifically based treatment of heart failure with chemically defined digitalis glycosides. In Germany, particularly, the usefulness of this development was greatly exagger ated and often resulted in the indiscrimate use of digitalis for pa tients with coronary artery disease and its complications. Today, this type of drug intervention is used more sparingly. At the same time, other therapeutic concepts were introduced, particularly...