i 3 o NATURAL HISTORY of NORWAY. 



que aqua? ex ore profluit, ut ftatim melius habeant pecora et 

 prorfus convalefcant. Alii pro remedio in pliarmacopoliis emunt 

 radicem tormentilke ; plerique tamen et pene omnes offibus ac- 

 quiefcunt. Videtur (quia ruftici rationem nullam dare fciunt) 

 quod pecora plerumque primo vere, terra adhue humoribus nimiis 

 fa>ta, ex hoc gramine pracoci tantam in fe humiditatem fuper- 

 fluam forbeant et devorent, que deinde per ofTa exficcari debet. 

 Unicuique tamen fuum relinque judicium." That according to 

 this learned gentleman's opinion, the bones of the cows are mol- 

 lified by nothing but the extreme moifture of this grafs, is what 

 I muft join with Simon Paulli in doubting ; yet, I cannot poili^ 

 tively affent to the opinion of the latter, that the foil where this 

 plant grows muft contain either quickftlver or lead ore, and that 

 it is the mercurial fpirit infinuated into this plant, which thus 

 corrodes and diflblves the bones. But others may form a better 

 judgment of the matter than I can. 



Among this clafs of noxious roots in Norway, muft be ranked 

 Iglegrafs ; the peafants in many places are very apprehenfive of the 

 mifchiefs of this plant, efpecially in the government of Nord- 

 fiord, where they ipare no pains to clear their meadows of it, as 

 it operates on the fheep and goats by a violent fpafmus or con- 

 traction, of which they die in extreme torture. Its root is large, 

 fhooting up a kind of bum of thick ftems, or twigs ; the leaves 

 narrow, oblong, and indented, with blue flowers at the end of 

 the ftems, which about harveft produce a hollow bud of twice 

 the bignefs of a pea, containing the feed, and fometimes it is 

 found full of worms and other infects. It grows chiefly in a cold, 

 watery foil. I have compared it with feveral figures, and find 

 that it has fome affinity with the Anemone; likewife, according 

 to Lonicer's defcription of it, with the Sideritis or ironwort, ex- 

 cept that inftead of white or yellowifh flowers, it has blue. The 

 eating of this plant in fheep and goats, and fometimes, tho' fel- 

 dom, in cows, is followed by the Virdfygee, a kind of vertigo, the 

 fymptom of which is fuch a contraction of the nerves, towards 

 one fide, that the neck and head are violently diftorted towards 

 its hind-parts, under which diftortion the beaft continues turning 

 round till it falls, and foon after dies. Sometimes, though not 

 often, a fheep is faved by opening a vein in the neck, whereby 

 i the 



