264 



Catarrli. 



Allevilde. 



Begavning. 



NATURAL H I S T O R Y of NO R WAT. 



where it grows very ftrong, and is called erichs-graes, they life it 

 as a pickle in the winter *. 



Catarrhs, and other diftempers which affect the head and 

 breaft, and are called here kov and kriim, appear very frequent 

 along the coaft in the fpring. Thofe that don't come out into 

 the air every day, and therefore are the fooneft feniible of the 

 cold, are moft afflicted with thefe phlegmatic diforders ; but the 

 expectoration caufed by this kov is generally ferviceable to the 

 conftitution. 



The common people, who are the leaft troubled with this; 

 diftemper, drink four whey as warm as they can bear it, by 

 way of remedy or prefervative, which cuts and attenuates the vifcid 

 obftructing phlegm, and promotes the difcharge of it. 



Landf arfbct is the name the peafants give a certain fever, which, 

 however, comes but feldom ; it is contagious and epidemic, from 

 whence it has its name. Mr. Luke Debes, in his defcription of 

 Faroe, compares it to the diftemper which the foldiers are apt to 

 catch when they are encamped in damp places. It is malignant 

 and painful, and carries off great numbers, and thofe that furvive 

 are cured by God's blefiing, and the ftrength of conftitution, for 

 we know of no remedy for it. 



Allevilde is the name of a difeafe, which feizes the patient at 

 firft with violent mooting pains, which move about from one 

 part of the body to another, like the arthritis vaga, and often 

 breaks out into fores and ulcers. The fuperftitious peafants afcribe 

 this to a fort of blaft which comes from the fea, or out of the 

 earth or mountains, which according to their opinion, is caufed 

 by witchcraft, and the remedy they make ufe of, is as abiurd as 

 the imaginary caufe of the diftemper. But thofe that are wifer, 

 ufe tar- water, or the oil extracted from the raw liver of fifh, and 

 apply it both internally and externally. 



Begavning, is the name of a kind of epileptic difeafe, but 

 feldom fo violent as in other countries. The women are moft 

 fubject to it here in Bergen, from a fuppreftion of the menfes, 

 occafioned by the dampnefs of the air. Some pretend to fay that 



* On Hitland, God's providence has provided them with the fame remedies againft 

 this difeafe which is contracted there, by the fame manner of living, for they eat fo 

 much falt-fiih that they are very fubjecl: to the fcurvy. Nature has furnifhed them 

 with plenty of fcurvy-grafs j they have no phyficians or furgeons, neither have they 

 any occafion for them. London Magazine for June 1752, p. 276. 



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