MARSH EQUISETUM. 
45 
as possible : in such case a reference to the specimen becomes 
indispensable. 
In a plant of which the synonymy is so imperfectly known 
as the Marsh Equisetum^ it is by no means an easy task to trace 
the record of medical and other properties. Haller seems to 
have collected together a number of wise saws from a variety of 
sources, and gives them under his Equisetum No. 1677 : but 
not only do I doubt whether the whole of them were intended 
for any one species, but 1 also doubt whether his No. 1677 is 
confined to the species now under consideration. The point is 
not worth a very rigid scrutiny. He makes out his No. 1677 to 
be hurtful to oxen and cows, giving them diarrhoea and making 
their teeth loose : in the same passage he also speaks of the 
great difficulty of extirpating his No. 1676, which is probably 
E, arvense, from a field where it is once naturalized : of the 
uses of either as a medicine he does not speak with certainty.^' 
The roots are slender and frequently divided ; they appear to 
spring from the joints of the rhizoma, and are generally covered 
with minute fibrillse. The rhizoma is creeping, and extends to 
a great length ; it is of nearly the same diameter as the stem, 
very black and shining, and smooth to the touch : at the joints 
it is solid, but the internodes are more or less hollow. 
The engraving at page 43 of this work represents a stem of 
Marsh Equisetum of the natural size and proportions : in order 
to exhibit the whole at one view, the stem has been divided into 
three portions. The stem is perfectly erect, about fifteen inches 
high, deeply furrowed and finely granulated : the furrows are 
* Haller, 3. 2. 1677. Hoc equisetum paulo minus quam 1676 tamen et ipsum 
pecori nocet et dentium facit in bobus et vaccis vacillationem turn diarrboeam. 
Cum seductus pulcbritudine Trifolii Equiseto 1676 inquinati, famulus, qui 
bourn meorum curam gerebat, semel aut iterum vaccam nuper vitulam enixam 
bac pestilente berba aluisset, ex diarrboea immedicabili eadem periit. Quare 
magnis pecuniis nostri arcanum redimerent, quo prata infaustissima berbarum 
liberarent. Mibi neque aratrum, neque fimus, neque alia cura profuit. Equis 
non nocet, neque ovibus et rangiferis. Porci nostrates recusant, cum in Suecia 
non detrectent. Radicibus tamen glandium simile aliquid ssepe adlisret, quod 
porcos credas requirere. 
Vires medicas vix satis certas autumo. Aquosa planta est, parum acris ; ei 
adstringentcs vires tribuerunt in diarrboja, in basmoptoe elficaces, &c, &c. 
