in botany, a name given by Bartholinus, and some other writers, to a kind of grass which grows in some parts of Norway. It comes up early in the spring, before any other grass, and the cattle are tempted to eat it; but it emaciates them, and renders them sickly: their back bones become protuberant if they feed on it for any time; and their legs so weak that they can hardly go. The remedy among the country people, which is a very curious one, is this: They collect the bones of different animals, and break them into small pieces. The cattle greedily devour this sort of food when offered them in this disease, and there follows a sort of drivelling at the mouth for a considerable time, after which they become perfectly well. It is possible there may be much absurdity in this story. The kingdom of Norway is full of mines, and the effluvia of these may be the occasion of the cattle's illness, and the eating of these effluvia their cure; for it is not probable that either of these effects should be owing to the grass or the bones.