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HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



[Feb. 1, I860. 



since the time of Gerarde, who gives this explana- 

 tion of it. In Buckinghamshire a corrupted form 

 of this is still in use iu the words Tipsen-leaves and 

 Touch-and-heal ; in Hampshire it is Touchen-leaves. 

 In the second of these we have an example of the 

 tautology so frequently found iu English names 

 where foreign words have been translated, and then 

 both original and translation have been combined. 

 The " Touch-and " is the same as Touchen, aud is 

 evidently a corruption of toute saine ; the " heal " 

 is a translation of toute saine. It has been converted 

 into Touch-tf#f/-heal to make sense of it: and the 

 word is now, perhaps, supposed to indicate the 

 rapidity with which the healing properties of the 

 plant take effect. 



Many Latin and Greek names, introduced, like 

 the knowledge of the plants bearing them, by the 

 monks, have become anglicised. Eroni the former 

 we derive Plantain, Bistort, Medick, Rose, Saxifrage, 

 Violet, Feverfew, Sanicle, Vervain, Centaury (and 

 its corrupted form, Sanctuary); from the latter, 

 besides the Latiu originals of many of the foregoing, 

 we have Leopard's Bane, Coral-root, Coriander, 

 Swallow-wort, Spleenwort, Daffodil, "Mazalion" 

 (by which name Daphne Mezereum is known in 

 Buckinghamshire), Celandine or Saiardine, and 

 many more. Besides these, we have some which, 

 apparently English, are really corrupted from the 

 Latin : Herb Bennet {Geum urban um) is an ab- 

 breviation of lierba benedicta, the blessed herb, a 

 name given on account of the many virtues formerly 

 attributed to it : Mill-mountain (Linum catharticum) 

 is, according to Dr. Prior, a corruption of Cha-mcel- 

 inum montan-um, the old scientific title of the plant. 

 The first half of the Dumfries name for the Coltsfoot, 

 " Tushy-lucky gowan," is doubtless from the Latin 

 Tussilago. 



From Latin names, the transition to another class, 

 in a measure connected with them, and introduced 

 by the same agency, is an easy one ; I refer to what 

 [ may term religious plants, such as have been in 

 some manner associated with, and have taken their 

 titles from, the pious observances of former times. 

 The Church taught by the eye as well as by the ear ; 

 and by natural objects sought to recall not only, as 

 we shall presently see, her more solemn seasons, but 

 the saints whose festivals she kept. The coincidence, 

 for example, of the flowering of a plant with the 

 feast of a saint led to a connection between the two, 

 and eventually, in many cases, the name of the latter 

 was bestowed upon the flower. A natural feeling of 

 reverence seems to have prevented, at any rate in 

 England, the dedication of plants to either person 

 of the Blessed Trinity ; and the few exceptions to 

 this rule with which I am acquainted are associated 

 with our Lord in His human nature exclusively. 

 The Blessed Virgin, however, who held a foremost 

 place among the saints, is commemorated, under the 

 title of " Our Lady," by which she was formerly 



most generally known in England, iu the Lady's 

 Bedstraw or Bedestraw {Galium rerum), Lady's 

 Smock {Cardamine pratensis), Lady's Finger 

 {Anthyllis vulneraria), Lady's Tresses {Spiranthes 

 autunmalis), Lady's Comb [Scandix Pecten), Lady's 

 Mantle {AlcJiemilla vulgaris), and very many more. 

 During Puritan times, it became the custom to 

 substitute the name of Venus for that of the Blessed 

 Virgin. Thus, Lady's Comb became Venus's Comb, 

 and so on ; and this substitution was fostered by 

 the false classical spirit which became fashionable 

 during and after the reign of Charles II. The Bev. 

 W. Jones, of Nayland, a celebrated Anglican 

 clergyman of the last century, refers in terms of 

 severe reprobation to this alteration, in his " Reflec- 

 tions on the Growth of Heathenism among Modern 

 Christians." It must not, be supposed that 

 "lady" always has the above signification; Lady 

 Fern, for example, is simply a translation of Filix 

 famina. The names Marygold and Marybud are 

 generally supposed to have a similar allusion, but 

 Dr. Prior doubts this ; Virgin's Bower {Clematis 

 Vitalba and 0. Flammula), and Virgin's Thistle 

 {Carduus Mariamis), however, undoubtedly refer to 

 the Blessed Virgin. In Hampshire the Lungwort 

 {Pulmonaria officinalis) is called "Joseph and Mary." 

 At first sight, this might seem difficult of explana- 

 tion ; but a little investigation soon enlightens us as 

 to its meaning. It will be noticed that the flowers 

 of this plant are pink or red when they first expand, 

 becoming blue when they arrive at maturity. In 

 mediaeval paintings and stained glass, aud hence 

 doubtless in the once popular miracle plays, S. 

 Joseph was represented chiefly in red, and the 

 Blessed Virgin in blue. The union of the two 

 colours in the blossoms of the same plant will 

 account for the name. Lords-and-Ladics {Arum, 

 maculatum) is thought by some to be a corruption 

 of " our Lord and our Lady," the resemblance of 

 the spadix, enshrined, as it were, in the spathe, 

 suggesting the idea of a statue of the Virgin and 

 Child beneath a canopy. Mr. Holland, however, 

 writes, "I think most country people who use the 

 name Lords and Ladies think that the plant is so 

 called because the spadices are sometimes red and 

 sometimes white, the white ones representing 

 ' ladies,' the red, ' lords.' If this name were derived 

 from a statue of the Virgin and Child, it would 

 probably have been called Lord-and-Lady, and not 

 by these words in the plural form. In Cheshire, on 

 the 29th of May, children thus distinguish between 

 the reddish leaves of the oak and the green ones, 

 the red ones being called ' girl's oak,' the others 

 ' boy's oak.' "Girls decorate themselves with the 

 former, boys with the latter." Among plants 

 popularly dedicated to other saints, we may notice 

 S. John's Wort {Hypericum, especially H. per- 

 foratum), in many places corrupted into Sinjonswort, 

 which blossoms about St. John the Baptist's day, 



