8S2 E Q U 
as fame cal 1 them, in a whorl; thefe are very (lender, 
about five inches long, quadrangular, and befet with fe- 
veral other fecondary whorls, having five to feven branch- 
lets on each ; fo that the whole refembles a pine-tree in 
miniature. The flowering (pike is at the end of the frond. 
Native of moft parts of Europe, in woods and fiuidy places; 
flowering in April and May. According to Linnaeus, it 
is a principal food of horfes in fome parts of Sweden. 
Scopoli affirms that it is noxious to-kine, making them 
filed their teeth, and bringing on a diarrhoea. This is alfo 
faid of the two next fpecies. 
2. Equifetum arvenfe, or corn horfe-tail: fruit-bear¬ 
ing fcap.e naked, barren leafy. The naked flowering ftems 
appear early in tiie fpring, and Toon decay : they are the 
thicknefs of a large wheat ftraw, a hand’s breadth or 
more in height, upright, yellowiffi, with from two to five 
joints, covered with membranous ribbed (heaths, divided 
at the top into numerous fegments or teeth. Native of 
moft parts of Europe, the Levant, Japan, and North 
America, in corn-fields and wet meadows, flowering in 
March, April, and May. It is a troublefome weed, and 
difficult to extirpate. The country people call it horfe- 
pipe and Jkake-pipe. It is fuppofed to indicate fubterra- 
neous flowing waters or fprings. 
3. Equifetum paiuftre, or marfh horfe-tail : ftera angu¬ 
lar, fronds fimple. The ftem is a foot or eighteen incites 
high, nearly fmooth, channelled with five or fix deep fur¬ 
rows. Grows in marflies and ditches; flowering in June. 
E. pal. minus polyftacliion, the variety, has fmaller 
fronds, alntoft all the branchlets having a fpike at the 
end, but that at the end of the ftem twice as large as 
the reft. 
4. Equifetum fluviatile, or river horfe-tail: ftem ftreaked, 
fronds altnoft fimple. This is the largeft of all the Eu¬ 
ropean fpecies. The ftem is three or four feet high, the 
thicknefs of a finger, and fometimes near an inch in dia¬ 
meter, ftreaked, not furrowed, fmooth, foft, of a pale or 
whitifh colour at firft, but blackifh in decay ; joints nu¬ 
merous, (heaths ftreaked, and divided into as many long 
linear dents as there are branchlets in the whorl, that is, 
from twenty-four to thirty, thirty-fix, and even forty ; 
the branchlets or leaves are quadrangular, and generally 
Ample. The fpikesgrow diftimSt from the fronds on fcapes, 
but from the fame root; thefe come out earlier, are a foot 
or eighteen inches in height, and the fpikes are replete 
with a blueifli powder. Haller tells 11s that this fpecies 
was eaten by the common people among the Romans ; 
and Linnaeus affirms, that rein-deer, who refufe hay, will 
however eat this; that it is cut as fodder for kine, with 
a view to increafe their milk; but that it is not fo accept¬ 
able to horfes. Native of Europe, on the banks of rivers, 
lakes, ponds, and ditches; flowering in May and Jtine. 
5. Equifetum limofum, or fmooth horfe-tail: ftem al- 
moft naked, fmooth, and even. This grows three or four 
feet high, and is often quite deftitute of leaves, but fome¬ 
times produces a few draggling ones. Haller is of opinion 
that this is only a variety of the paiuftre. Linnaeus and 
Leers fufpeft it to be a variety of the foregoing. Found 
in watery places, lakes, ponds, and ditches ; flowering 
in May and J line. 
6. Equifetum hyemale, or rough horfe-tail: ftem naked, 
fcabrous, fubracemed at the bafe. Stems evergreen, about 
eighteen inches high, naked and unbranched for the moft 
part, but fometimes emitting two or three lateral branches 
near the bafe ; they are furrowed with eighteen or twenty 
rough obtufe angles, and many of the joints are three 
inches afunder. This is the beft fpecies for polifhing 
wood and metal, as being the hat deft and roughefi. Hence 
our old writers called it fhave-grafs. It is much ufed by 
the wliitefniiths and cabinet-makers, under the name of 
Dutch ruffles. In Northumberland, the dairy-maids fcour 
their milk-pails with it. Gerarde fays, that the women 
fcower their pewter and wooden things of the kitchen 
therewith, and thence call it pewterwort ; and that the 
fletchers and comb-makers do' rub and polifh their work 
E Q U 
with it. Native of Europe, by river fides, in bogs and 1 
watery places, and in wet marfiiy places in woods: flow¬ 
ering in July and Auguft; alfo of Japan. 
7. Equifetum giganteum, or giant horfe-tail : ftem 
ftreaked, arborefeent; fronds fimple, ftiitt, fpike-bearing. 
We have no defeription of this fpecies. It is a native of 
South America. 
Propagation and Culture. Though the horfe-tails be in¬ 
habitants of the water, or at lead fiourifli beft where they 
can lodge their perennial creeping roots in a wet foil or 
ftrong clay which holds the wet, yet they will grow with¬ 
out difficulty in a garden, efpecially near water, or under 
a north wall, or in the ftiade: they require only to be kept 
within bounds, as they run much at the root; it is better, 
therefore, to plant them in pots, plunged in the earth, 
than in the open ground. It is not fo eafy to extirpate 
them from cultivated lands. Haller lays that he tried in 
vain to accomplifh it by ploughing, dunging, and other 
methods ; and that any one who publifhed the fecret of 
deftroying this unpropitious weed, fo injurious to kine, 
would merit a confiderable reward. Draining lanjds in- 
fefted with it, would have the beft chance of removing 
the evil. See CeratofhyLlum, Chara, Hippuris, 
and Elatine. 
E'QJJITABLE, [equitable, Fr.] Juft; due to juftice. 
—It feems but equitable to give the artifts leave to name 
them as they pleafe. Boyle. —Loving juftice; candid; 
impartial ; as, an equitable judge. 
E'QUITABLENESS,y. Juftnefs.—Demon fixating bo til 
the equitablenefs and pradticablenefs of the tiling. Locke. 
E'QUITABLY, adv. Juftly; impartially. 
E'QLJITY, /. [ equite , Fr. aquitas, Lat.] Juftice; 
right; honefty.—Chriftianity fecures both the private 
intereft of men and the public peace, enforcing all juftice 
and equity. Tillotfon. 
Foul fubordination is predominant, 
And equity exil’d your highnefs’ land. Shakefpeare. 
Impartiality.—Liking their own fomewhat better than 
other mens, even becaufe they are their own, they muft 
in equity allow 11s to be like unto them in this affection. 
Hooker. 
E'QUITY, in law, is defined to be a corredlion, or qua¬ 
lification of the common law, generally made in that part 
wherein it faileth, or is too fevere. It likewife fignifies 
the extenfion of the words of the ftatute law to cafes un- 
expreffed, yet having the fame reafon : fo that where one 
thing is enacted by ftatute, all other things are enatted 
that are of the like degree : for example ; the ftatute of 
Gloucefter gives action of wafte againft him that holds 
lands for life or years ; and by the equity thereof, a man 
(hall have aiSlion of wafte againft a tenant that holds but 
for one year, or half-year, which is without the words of 
the a<£t, but within the meaning of it; and the words that 
enaft the one, by equity enait the other. Terms de Ley. 
So that equity is of two kinds ; the one doth abridge and 
take from the letter of the law ; and the other enlarge and 
add thereto. And ftatutes may be conftrued according 
to equity ; efpecially where they give remedy for wrong, 
or are for expedition of juftice, & c. Co. Lit. 24. 2 Injl. 106. 
A court of equity cannot now be created by the king, but 
the fame muft be done by a£t of parliament. \lnjl.%\. 
The diftinftion between law and equity, as adminiftered 
in different courts, is not at prefent known, nor feems to 
have ever been known, in any other country than Eng¬ 
land. With us the Aula regia which was anciently the 
fupreme court of judicature, undoubtedly adminiftered 
equal juftice according to the rules of both or either, as 
the cafe might chance to require: and, when that was 
broken to pieces, the idea of a court of equity, as diftin- 
guifhed from a court of law, did not fubfift in the original 
plan of partition. For though equity is mentioned by 
Bradon l. 2. c. 7. pi, 23, as a thing contrafted to ftridt law, 
yet neither in that writer, nor in Glanvill or Fleta, nor 
yet in Britton, (compofed under the aufpices and in the 
name 
