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NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 141. 



' sitnply Hammer, iind there is manifestly some sort 

 of relation between the two names, though I can- 

 not make out what. I have full and curious 



<:accounls of the ancient cathedral of Stor Hammer, 



■ but should be jxlad to know whether there was 

 ever a cathedral at Lillehammer? and, if so, 

 Tvhere it stood, and whether any vestiges of it 

 remain, and where any account of it can be met 

 with ? 



The towers and spire of Hammer Cathedral in 



"tlie days of its glory were profusely decorated with 

 gilded vanes, a fact which may interest your cor- 

 respondent B. B. (Vol. v., p. 490.), who inquires 

 about the antiquity of vanes. Tliis must have 



'been many centuries ago, but I have not at this 

 moment access to the date. It was, at all events, 

 in Catholic times, when this fine old church was 

 richly ornamented with all manner of costly aids 



'to spiritual devotion; among the rest with a mira- 

 culous crucifix, which had in its head a cavity big 

 enougli to contain a quart of water, and conduits 

 of porous wood from tiience to the eyes. Was any 

 similar contrivance ever known to exist elsewhere 

 in the North, or was it that the pious construc- 

 tiveness of the monks of Hammer was stimulated to 



'- such ingenuity by a more than commonly devo- 

 tional turn of mind ? 



The length of the cathedral at Drontheim is 

 variously stated. Mr. Laing says, 346 feet ; and 

 the auilior of the Norge fremstillet i Tegninger 

 ,says, 350 Norwegian feet, whicii is equal to 360 

 feet English withm a fraction. Wiiich of the two 

 is right? And can any of your correspondents 

 inform me whether any and what steps are being 



'taken for the restoration of this beautiful cathedral, 

 and how it is purposed to proceed in so doing ? 



William E. C. Nourse. 

 "28. Bryanston Street. 



THE TRUE MAIDEN-HAIR FERN. 



Of the sixty-three species contained under the 

 genus Adian, um (a5iWros), perhaps the most beau- 

 tiful is the Capillus Veneris, or Ti-ue Maiden-hair 

 Fern, with its fan-shaped, serrated leaflets of deep 

 -green, and its long black stems, shining and wiry, 

 from four to eighteen inches high. This plant has 

 been found at Port Kerig, Glamorganshire (veri- 

 'fied 1834) ; on the banks of the Carnm, a rivulet in 

 Kincardineshire (Professor Beattie) ; in a small 

 cave on the east side of Carrach Gladden ; a cove 

 on the north coast of Cornwall, between Hayle 

 •and St. Ives (Prof. Henslow); in South Europe: 

 Isles of Bourbon, Teneriffe, Jamaica, and His- 

 paniola; and, I have also heard, on the Andes. 



In Ireland it lias been found, though not abun- 

 )dantly, on Erris-beg (one of the line mountains* 



* These are covered with neaiitiful m 'sses, ferns, i 

 land heaths ; here Mr. Mackay found the Erica Medi- 

 terranea, not indigenous to the sister kingdoms. t 



of Roundstone, Connamara, which overhangs Bu- 

 lard Lake,) by Messrs. M'Calla and Babington ;. 

 and on Cahir Couree Mountain, near Tralee, by 

 Mr. Andrews. 



Dr. Caleb Threlkeld, w^ho wrote Synopsis Stir- 

 pium Hibernicai'um. . . . vxith their Latin-English 

 and Irish Names . . . the First Essay of this kind' 

 in the Kingdom of Ireland, 1726, 12mo., does not 

 mention this fern, but the Trichomanes only. I 

 find it first noticed in the Botanologia Universalis^ 

 Hibernica, authore Joh. K'Eogli, A.B., Corke, 1735,, 

 sm. 4to., where the writer says : 



" The liest in this kingdom is brought from the 

 rocky mountains of Burrin, in the co. of Clare, where- 

 it grows plentifully ; from thence it is brought in sacks- 

 to Duhlin, and sold there: it is pulmonic, lithontriptic 

 . . . and it wonderfully helps those afflicted with 

 asthmas, shortness of breath, and coughs, occasioning a- 

 free expectoration ; it is also good against the jaundice, 

 dropsy, diarrhoea, haemoptysis, and the bitings of mad 

 dogs." — P. 74, 



Dr. Wade says — 



« This is the plant which gave name to the syrnj> 

 called capillaire ; but I may venture to assert that it 

 never has any of this plant in its composition, being 

 usually made with sugar and water only, and some- 

 times with the addition of a little orange-flower water.*" 

 — Plantoe Rariores in Hibeniia inventce. Dubl., 1804^ 

 8vo. p. 92. 



I doubt that Dr. Wade has given the true re- 

 ceipt f()r capillaire, even though he be right as to 

 the Adiantura's not being one of the ingredients. 

 In the Transactions of the Medico-Philosophical 

 Society of Dublin, in the middle of the last century. 

 Dr. Rutty says, that this fern was exported in 

 large quantities to London, whilst its use was 

 unknown in Dublin. And Mr. Bride, a druggist, 

 informed Dr. Smith (author of the Hist, of Water^ 

 ford, Kerry, and Cork) that he had at that time 

 shipped two hogsheads to London from Arran. 

 The wild isles of Arran form a favourite habitat 

 of this beautiful fern : they lie about forty miles 

 from Galway Bay, and nine from the nearest 

 mainland. Ara Mor, as the largest is called, 

 abounds in flat table rocks, or fields of stone,, 

 which are intersected occasionally by deep fissures 

 or rifts : In these the Adiantum grows ; the natives 

 call it Dubh-chosach, or " Black- footed." These 

 isles abound in botanical treasures: samphire 

 (Crithmum maritimum), for instance, grows more- 

 abundantly there than I have ever seen it else- 

 where, and may be gathered in most accessible 

 places. It is called Gi^ylig (Grioloigin, O'R.) in 

 other places Geirgin, Greigin, Greineog, Greim- 

 hric, Luo-na-canamh, &c. Dr. Threlkeld, who in 

 his amusing little work indulges in religious and 

 political gossip, often most irrelevant, praises the 

 Herba S. Petri or -S". Pierre, and adds : 



"That whoever gave it the name of sampire, seemedl 

 to have reason on his side if he believed one apostle 



