CRYPTOGAMIA FILICKS. 6^)^ 



In many of the weilern ifles the people gain a very 

 confiderable profit from the faic of the afhes to 

 foap and glafs-makers. ' - 



In Gkn Elgi ih Invernefsjhir'e, and other places, we 

 obferved, that the people thatch'd their houTes 

 ■with the ftalks of this fern, and faftened thcai 

 down with ropes made either of birch-bark or 

 heath. Sometimes they ufed the whole plant ioi 

 „ the fam.e purpofe, but that does not make io 

 .<:,•' ^" durable a covering. 



Swine are fond of t!ie roots; cfpeciaily if boil'd in 

 ■1 ■ '-• -'• their wafh. 



''"^"'^^'In fome parts of Nurmandy we read that the poor 

 have been reduced to the miferable necellity oi 

 -j;'..ndrm': fp/ixing them with their bread. And m Stberia, 

 v;ri.^^ -iutj. ^^^ ibme other Northern countries, the inhabi- 

 r-'.i'Al s. :■, tants brew them in their ale, mixing one third of 

 'A^ wof'j" ^1^^ j.QQj.^ ^y two-thirds of malt. 



The ancients ufed the root of this fern, and the 

 ■whole plant, in deco6tions and diet-drinks, in 

 ^\uZ-ii. chronic diforders of ail kinds, arifino- from ob- 



iDi DOR •;, fti-uclions of the vifccra and the fpleen. Some 

 of the moderns have given it a high charaiflei 

 in the fame intentions, but it is rarely ufed iu 

 en nzhui j.j^g prcfent praftice. The country people, how- 

 ever, ftill continue to retain feme of its ancient 

 r,»ut'm^'/i v yfes, for they give the powder of it to deflroy 

 ■s^T> i! wormsj and look upon a bed of the green plant 

 V--- \-.i as a fovereign cure for the rickets in children. 



err U u i ASPLENIUM".. 



;"'nri i 



