152 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



duces what is called smut in corn, by consuming 

 the I'arina, and this the Romans thought was the 

 work of an angry god whom they called Rubigo, 

 and to whom they offered sacrifices in the month 

 of May, praying him not to hurt the corn. 



Of all fruits the apple has the widest and most 

 mystical history. The golden apples of the Hespe- 

 rides afford only one instance of the extreme care 

 with which it was everywhere guarded and 

 sought after. In Arabian tales it is the fruit en- 

 dowed with all healing virtues, and in the North it 

 is represented as the food eaten by the gods to 

 make them young again, if they felt any signs of 

 old age : the forbidden fruit is extensively thought 

 to have been an apple, which idea is found in some 

 mythologies, where the apple is often itself the 

 tempter. 



The lotus is one of the most interesting of 

 legendary plants, but there is a great deal of per- 

 plexity connected with its history, as there are 

 many plants to which the name of lotus has been 

 given, and it is very difficult to identify the sacred 

 lotus, which, if not actually worshipped by the 

 Egyptians, received divine honours, as an emblem 

 of life and growth, and of the sun springing from 

 the ocean, also, on account of its luxuriance, of the 

 earth's fecundity. This plant, which is reported to 

 have been most beautiful, is said to have sprung 

 spontaneously from the watery expanse of the Nile, 

 unfolding its leaves and gorgeous blossoms above 

 the surface of the water. This is symbolized by the 

 poets to mean " the soul drawn out of an evil nature, 

 and surmounting the bounds of sense." The leaves 

 of this plant resist water, which "trickles from them 

 as from a lion's mane;" so an Eastern proverb 

 compares a man who resists temptation to a lotus- 

 leaf. 



The lotus was sacred to Isis, the chief Egyptian 

 goddess, and was represented as forming the throne 

 of Osiris ; it was also sacred in India, where images 

 of Buddha always show him holding the lotus in 

 both hands. 



Another famous lotus was the food of the Loto- 

 phagi, or Lotus-eaters. The followers of Ulysses 

 arrived in their wanderings in the land where these 

 people lived, and being presented with its fruit, 

 they succumbed to the intoxication it produced, 

 which brought oblivion of all their former sorrows ; 

 and giving themselves "up to the pleasure of eating 

 it, they lost all care, and consciousness of everything, 

 except the present lassitude and enjoyment in the 

 land of the ictus, as we may read in Tennyson's 

 beautiful poem. The list of plants bearing the name 

 of lotus is too long to give here, and there exists 

 much controversy respecting which tcere those two 

 most famous. The result of a discussion on the 

 subject in Science-Gossif, 1870, seems to be that 

 iha Nymphcea Lotus, the great water-lily of the Nile, 

 was the most sacred plant ; and the Nehtmbivm 



speciosuvi, of the Bean tribe, also a most beautiful 

 plant, the food of the Lotus-eaters ; but different 

 authorities hold different opinions on the subject. , 



Another celebrated lily is the Amancaes, or 

 golden lily of St. John, which grows in Peru, and 

 Is regarded as a sacred flower. There is still a 

 festival held every midsummer day, in a village 

 near the city of Lima, in connection with it. The 

 inhabitants all leave the town to gather the lily, 

 which they find blooming in abundance on the 

 surrounding hills. They afterwards offer the blos- 

 soms at shrines in two little temporary chapels 

 erected in the valley for the occasion. In Europe 

 there is a whole family of plants known as St. John's 

 worts, and formerly in London one of them, the 

 Hypericum perforatum, was gathered and thrown into 

 the bonfires which were lighted on St. John's Eve. 

 In Prance and Germany some of the peasantry still 

 gather its yellow blossoms with much ceremony on the 

 same day, and hang them up in their houses to avert 

 evil ; in Scotland it was also once worn to preserve 

 from witches and enchantments : there is scarcely 

 another small plant which has so wide a sanctity as 

 this. Owing to the time of year when St. John's 

 Day falls, when the summer flowers are in all their 

 beauty, very many are connected with his name, 

 and used as charms in Germany against all the 

 spirits of the Walpurgis night which was that of St. 

 John's Eve, when the midsummer fairies also held 

 their revels. 



Another humble plant of great repute is the 

 vervain, which has nothing in its appearance to 

 warrant its being so holy a herb. Pliny mentions 

 it as being used in casting lots and telling fortunes; 

 and as being carried by the Roman ambassadors 

 when they went to declare war, to give defiance to 

 their enemies; but another writer states that it was 

 carried in treaties of peace, representing the god of 

 war in his more merciful moods. The Druids 

 gathered the ^vervain with the left hand, at the 

 rising of the dog star, from spots upon which the 

 sun and moon had never shone ; they waved it in 

 the air, and then anointed the earth with honey, to 

 compensate it for the deprivation of the precious 

 plant. The Romans said it would make all cheerful 

 at the feast to have the room sprinkled with water 

 in which vervain had been steeped : they said also 

 that it would cure thirty complaints. It was 

 associated among the Druids with another little 

 plant, the rue, which they called " Gras Dun," the 

 herb of grace ; they thought it too holy to touch 

 with the bare hand : it was supposed to cure dim 

 sight. In the Tyrol it was associated with agrimony 

 and other plants, which, being carried about, were 

 said to endow the bearer with supernatural vision. 

 It is curious that agrimony should be so associated, 

 as the name of that plant is derived from Argos, the 

 hundred-eyed giant, who is said to have kept his 

 eyes in good condition by its use. Rue and rose- 



