The Scottish Naturalist. 25 



of the Highlands, at the birth of a child, the nurse puts the end 

 of a green stick of ash into the fire, and while it is burning, 

 receives into a spoon the sap or juice which oozes out at the 

 other end, and administers this to the new-born babe." Serpents 

 were supposed to have a special horror of its leaves. 



" Theid an nathair troimh an teine dhearg 

 Mu'n teid i troimh dhuilleach an iiinnsihn," 



The serpent will go through fire, rather than through the leaves of the ash. 



The same superstition was equally common in other countries, 

 and the name " ash," which is said to be from the Celtic word 

 azsc, a pike, is more likely to be from the word asc, a snake, an 

 adder. 1 German: die esche. 

 The badge of Clan Menzies. 



GENTIANACE/E. 



Gentiana campestris — Field gentian. Gaelic: lus a cJiriibain, 

 the crouching plant, or the plant good for the disease called 

 crubain, " which attacks cows, and is supposed to be produced 

 by hard grass, scanty pasture, or other causes. The cows become 

 lean and weak, with their hind- legs contracted towards the fore- 

 feet, as if pulled by a rope" (Armstrong). This plant, in common 

 with others of this genus, acts as an excellent tonic ; its qualities 

 were well known in olden times. Welsh : crwynllySj bent-weed ; 

 cryn, bend, curve. Gaelic : creamh, is given also as a name for 



gentian. 



" 'N creamh na charaichean, 

 Am bac nan staidhrachean." — MTntyre. 



Which Dr Armstrong translates, "gentian in beds or plots." The 

 name creamh also applies to the leek. Creamh, hart's-tongue fern, 

 garlic, and elecampane. Welsh : craf, garlic. 



Erythrsea, from epvOpos, erythros, red flowers. 



E. centaurium — Centuary ; red gentian. Irish : ceadharlach 

 (O'Reilly), the centaur. It is said that with this plant Chiron 

 cured the wound caused by the arrows of Hercules in the 

 Centaur's foot. Gaelic, according to Armstrong : ceud bhileach, 

 meaning hundred-leaved, a corruption of the Irish name (Ceud, 

 Irish : ceadh; Latin : centum, a hundred), — the origin of the name 

 being probably misunderstood. 



1 In Scandinavian mythology the first man was called Ask, and the first 

 woman Ambla — ash and elm. The court of the gods is represented in the 

 Edda as held under an ash — Yggdrasil. Connected with these circumstances 

 probably arose the superstitions. — Chambers's Encvclop.-edia. 



