NATURAL HISTORY oi NORWAY. 127 



him a more accurate tho' not compleat account, of its good and 

 bad effects in the following words: " This plant derives its 

 name from the place of its growth, which is here in Guldbrandf- 

 dale, in the parifh of Waag* and the chapelry of Sels. It delights 

 in fwampy places, and begins to moot towards the clofe of June, 

 or the beginning of July, when the fwamps are entirely divided. 

 It bears a kind of grafs like the Norway Mafterwort, and its root 

 is about the circumference of a half-crown, fome round, others 

 oblong, as in the figure. None of the feveral medicinal dictiona- 

 ries, which I have fearched, mention either its ufe, or fo much as 

 its name, poilibly from its being unknown to the authors 5 tho' 

 a certain writer of Magdeburg fpeaks of the Apium raninum, 

 which he interprets water-parfley, in the following manner ; 

 Affectat ovicula ex paludibus apium raninum, cum tamen inter 

 ovem et hanc herbam talis oLvwreAuu fit, ut ovicula ftatim moria- 

 tur, et in fignum mortis ex Apio comeftae, in hepate ovis repe- 

 riatur veftigium inftar folii de Apio jecori animalis quail impref- 

 fum. Which defcription evinces water-parfley and Selfnape to be 

 the fame ; the latter being prefent death to the fheep ; whereas 

 in fwine it is known to operate fo beneficially* that it is the beffc 

 medicine which can be given them. The poifon of it is equally 

 fatal to men, as the inhabitants of Sels know from many melan- 

 choly inftances, and within my time, two children, having igno- 

 rantly eat of it, died foon after. Upon cutting a frefh root into 

 flices, and throwing it into frefh water, it emits rays of different 

 colours, and this water being put up with the Nape in a bunged 

 cafk, contracts a fmell more loathfom than any carrion. As 

 to the virtues thereof, it is found to be a fpecific in arthritic 

 cafes, for which it is ufed in the following manner ; being fewed 

 up in a piece of fine linen, it is fattened to the fhirt fo as to be 

 placed on the part affected, either the arms, the loins, or other 

 limbs; upon its being warmed by the natural heat of the body 4 

 the pain is immediately affuaged, and without any return, whilft 

 the Nape remains applied to the body. This is known by 

 taking it off, when the pain immediately returns, efpecially if 

 the diftemper be chronical, or if recent, the ufe of this remedy 

 has been known totally to remove the diftemper within a quarter 

 of a year. Another fingular virtue has alfo been found in it ; an 

 Part I. L I inha- 



