Notes and Letters on the Natural History of Norfolk: More Especially on the Birds and FishesBrowne, Thomas, Sir
History
Notes and Letters on the Natural History of Norfolk: More Especially on the Birds and Fishes
Browne, Thomas, Sir
Natural history -- England -- Norfolk
[99] It is evident that Merrett was collecting a considerable
amount of materials for an enlarged edition of his _Pinax Rerum
Naturalium Britannicarum_, on behalf of which Browne seems, by this
introductory letter, to have tendered his assistance, but the
contemplated edition, probably for reasons which I have mentioned
elsewhere, never appeared; happily, these rough drafts have been
preserved, although it seems not unlikely that the letters
themselves, should they ever be found, would differ from them in
some respects.
[100] _Scarabæus capricornus odoratus._ The Musk Beetle, _Aromia
moschata_, L.
[101] _Acorus calamus_, the Sweet Flag, is still found in plenty in
various localities in the county, but it does not appear to develop
its curious "julus" every year. It was very abundant at Heigham, a
suburb of Norwich, on the site now occupied by the goods yard of
the Midland and Great Northern Railway, and it was probably from
this spot that the supply was obtained for the purpose of littering
the floor of the old parish church. Mr. Vaux, in his "Church
Folk-Lore," p. 264, says that up to the passing of the Municipal
Reform Bill the Town Clerk of Norwich was accustomed to pay the
sub-sacrist of the cathedral an amount of one guinea for strewing
the floor with rushes on the Mayor's Day. The custom is said to
have been adopted "as well for coolness as for pleasant smell." The
pleasant cinnamon-like scent of the rush, on being trodden on, is
said to have perfumed the whole building. The root was also used as
a remedy in cases of ague, and formed the base of tooth and hair
powders.
[102] Towards the end of the Introductory Letter to Johnson's
(1636) Edition of Gerard's "Herball," he acknowledges the
assistance he received from Mr. John Goodyer, of Maple-Durham, in
Hampshire. Sir J. E. Smith ("Eng. Flora," iv., p. 34) speaks of him
as "one of the most deserving of our early English Botanists."
Robert Brown named a genus of plants (_Goodyera_) after Goodyer.
[103] William How, 1620-1656, was the author of "Phytologia
Britannica," Lond., 1650, "the earliest work on botany restricted
to the plants of this island" ("Dic. of Nat. Biog."). He practised
medicine in London.
Sesamoides Salamanticum Magnum.[104] Why you omit Sesamoides
Salamanticum parvum this groweth not far from Thetford and Brandon and
plentifull in neighbour places where I found it and have it in my hortus
hyemalis answering ye description in Gerard.
[104] _Sesamoides_ is stated in Ree's Encyclopædia and in Eng. Fl.
to be a synonym of _Reseda_, therefore _Sesamoides magnum_ would
appear to be _R. luteola_ and _S. parvum_, _R. lutea_.
Urtica Romana[105] which groweth with button seede bags is not in yr.
catalogue I have founde it to grow wild at [Golston _crossed out_]
Golston by Yarmouth, & transplanted it to other places.[P]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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