Miscellaneous Facts and Observations. 149 



acres of this plant in the neighbourhood of Fort- 

 Detroit. In the winter-season, the horses very fre- 

 quently eat of it, in consequence of which they almost 

 always die. It is said, that upon examining their 

 stomachs, they are found to be much cut or lacerated 

 by the plant, the surface of which is very rough : 

 hence its provincial name, above-mentioned. But 

 although the plant is thus fatal to horses, horned cat- 

 tle and hogs fatten upon it. The hogs, it is said, do 

 not swallow the plant, but only the juice, and reject 

 the fibrous substance. To horned cattle, it is sup- 

 posed to be innocent, because they chew the cud. 

 Deer (Cervus Virginianus) also eat it, with safety; and 

 when cut fine, it seems to be a grateful food to the 

 common dunghill-fowls. The plant has a sweetish 

 taste. 



That the Equisetum hyemale, when it is eaten in 

 the winter-season, often proves destructive to horses, 

 is very certain : but the theory of its manner of pro- 

 ducing death does not seem to be well understood. 

 It is the opinion of some intelligent persons, who 

 reside in the vicinity of Detroit, that the plant proves 

 mortal merely by reason of the ice which is formed in 

 the cavity of the stem. These cylinders of ice are sup- 

 posed to occasion the death of the animal, both by 

 their extreme coldness, and by the mechanical irrita- 

 tion which they give to the coats of the stomach. It 

 is somewhat in favour of this theory, that the Equi- 

 setum is known to be innocent to horses in the sum- 



