Economical Ufe of the Ranunculus aqUatUis. 211 



paflages. lie gives it therefore a decided preference as an 

 epifpaftic. Other authors allow thefe qualities in the Ra- 

 nunculi, and that they are quicker than Canthartdes in their 

 Veficating effcdl ; but fay, that all thefe advantages are more 

 than balanced by the greater uncertainty of their aftion on 

 the fkin, and their frequently leaving ill-conditioned ulcers, 

 of which Murray and other writers have recorded inftances *. 

 Neverthelefs, the Ranunculi were employed in local fpaf- 

 niodic complaints and in fixed pains, and not unfrequently 

 in cataplafms to the wrifts in intermitting fevers. Crowfoot 

 is known alfo to have been one of the ingredients in Plun- 

 ket'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 dilhpated 

 in drying; fo that, in the form of hay, they appear to be 

 harmlefs, and nutritive to cattle. It is alfo inftantly expelled 

 in decoftion, probably in all the fpecies ; at leaft, Murray in- 

 forms us, that the (hepherds of Morlachia eat even the R.fce- 

 leratus, as a culinary plant, after boiling it : the R. ajirico- 

 mus, and, as feveral authors aflure us, the R. repens, are fo 

 deftitute of acrimony as to be wholly inoffenfive^ and even 

 worthy of a place among oleraceous plants. 



The Ranunculi give out this quality wholly in diftillation : 

 the water of the R. fcelerafus, by the experiments of Tile- 

 bein, as recorded in the fecond volume of the Chemical An- 

 nals, is acrimonious in an intenfe degree, and, when cold, 

 depofits cryftals which are fcarcely foluble in any menftruum, 

 and are of an inflammable nature f. The diftilled water of 

 the R. Flammula, or Leflcr Spearwort, as we are informed 

 by Dr. Withering, is an emetic more inftantaneous, and lefa 

 ofTenfive during its aftion, than white vitriol ; and, as if Na- 

 ture had furnifhed an antidote to poifon from among poifons 

 of its own tribe, is to be preferred in promoting the inftant 

 expulfion of deleterious fubltances from the ftomach. 



In the experiments of the Pan Suecus, even in the im- 

 proved edition by Schreber, after the obfervations and re- 

 newed trials of Kalm, Gadd, Bergius, and Laftbohm, made 

 upon horned cattle, goats, Ibeep, horfes, and fwine, all the 

 * ApjarM. Mutt am. iii. 87. t I^agc 313. 



E e 2 fpecie« 



