Economical Ufe of the Ranunculus aquatilis., Is 
Before the introduStion of Cantharides, the acrid Ranunculi were, 
all in their turn, ufcd as veficatories ; and Haller tells us*, the 
R. Flammula is ftill in ufe as fuch in fome parts of France. Gilibert 
affures us, that the R. bulbofus veficates with lefs pain than the Fives, 
and has no effect on the urinary paflages. He gives it therefore a. 
. decided preference as an epifpaftic. Other authors allow thefe qua- 
litics ip the Ran and that they are quicker than Cantharides 
in their ve icatinp efiet; but fay, that all thefe advantages are more 
than balanced, by the greater uncertainty of their action on the 
fkin, and their frequently leaving ill-conditioned ulcers, of which 
Murray and other writers have recorded inftances t. Neverthelefs, 
the Ranunculi were employed iu local {pafmodic complaints and in 
fixed pains, and not unfrequently in cataplafms to the wrifts in in- 
termitting fevers. Crowfoot is known alfo to have been one of the 
Ie 
ingredients in Plunket's Epithem for Cancers. 
ie 
The acrimony of thefe plants is, however, of fo volatile a nature, 
that, even in the moft virulent, it is wholly diffipated in drying; fo. 
that, in the form of hay, they appear £o be harmlefs, andenutritive 
to cattle. It is alfo inftantly expelled in decoction, probably in all 
lachia eat even the R; feeleratus, as a culin ary plant, after boiling it: 
the R. auricomus, and, as feveral authors affure us, the R. repens, 
~ are fo deftitute of acrimony as to be wholly inoffenfive, and. even 
. worthy of a place among oleraceous plants. - | 
Y A x 
(7 See the Enumeratio Stirpium and Hiforia Stirpium Helvetia, in which much fatif- 
factor | information is collected, refpecting the properties of this genus of plants; and for 
which the Author has, with his ufual candour and. accuracy, quoted all his authorities. 
t Plante rariores Lithuanie, No. 331. o. 
$ Apparat, Medicam, iii. 87. oe 
T : The 
s, that the fhepherds of Mor-- 
i 
