Economical life of the Ratiunculus aqUii tills. 15 



Before the introdii£lif)n of Cimtbcirides, the acrid Ranunculi were, 

 all in their turn, uLd as vcficatories ; and Haller tells us *, the 

 R. Fiammula is ftill in vife as fiich in fome parts of France. Gilibcrt 

 affures us+, that the R. bulbojus vcTicates with lefs pain than the FlieSy 

 and has no efteft on the urinary paflagcs. He gives it therefore a 

 decided preference as an epifpaftic. Other authors allow thefe qua- 

 lities in the Ranunculi^ and that they are quicker than Canthandes 

 in their veficating efted ; but fay, that all thefe advantages are more 

 than balanced, by the greater uncertainty of their a£tion on the 

 flcin, and their fiequently leaving ill-conditioned ulcers, of which 

 Murray and other writers have recorded mftanccs \. Neverthelefs, 

 the Ranunculi were employed in local fpafmodic complaints and in 

 fixed pains, and not unfrequently in cataplafms to the wrifts in in- 

 termitting fevers. Croinfoot is known alfo to have been one of the 

 ingredients in Plunket's Epithem for Cancers. 



The acrimony of thefe plants is, however, of fo volatile a nature, 

 that, even in the moft virulent, it is wholly dillipated in drying ; fo 

 that, in the form of hay, they appear to be harmleis, and nutritive 

 to cattle. It is alfo inftantly expelled in dcco6tion, probably in all 

 the fpecies ; at leafl:, Murray informs us, that the lliepherds of Mor- 

 lachia eat even the R. fcekraius, as a culinary plant, after boiling it: 

 the R. auricomns, and, as feveral authors allure us, the R. rcpens, 

 are fo deftitute of acrimony as to be wholly inoffenfive, and even 

 worthy of a place among oleraceous plants. 



* See the EmimeraUo S/lrpiiim and Hijloria Stiif'ir/iii ILhclis, in which much fatif- 

 t.iclory information is colleiSled, refpecling the pvopcnics of this genus of plants; and for 

 which the Author has, with his ufual candour and accuracy, quoted all his authorities. 



t Plantt rarkrcs Lllhuatiia, No. 331. 



^ Api'arat. Mtdkam. iii. 87. 



The 



