July 1, 1S.1S.] 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



163 



Hebony. — Allow me, as a student of Old English, 

 to explain that there is no doubt about the meaning 

 of hebony in " Hamlet." The explanation henbane is 

 absurd, and was started by some commentator, 

 whom others have followed like a [flock of sheep. 

 Even in Mr. Jcphson's Glossary to the Globe 

 Shakespeare, we find hebenon (for such is the true 

 reading) explained by henbane. This is simply 

 wrong ; for hebenon means ebony, as may be shown 

 by very sufficient authorities. The passage was 

 explained long ago in Nares's Glossary, from which 

 I extract the following:— "Hebenon, ebony, the 

 juice of which was supposed to be a deadly poison." 

 He cites a very apposite passage from "The Jew of 

 Malta " :— 



" Tn few, the blood of Hydra, Lerne's bane, 

 The juice of hebon, and Cocytus' breath, 

 And all the poisons of the Stygian pool." 



Jew of Malta, Old PI., viii., 355. 



The same explanation was given by Mr. Douce, and 

 it may be remarked, that the old quarto reads 

 hebona. Every reader of Spenser must remember 

 the introduction to Book I. of the "Eaerie Queue," 

 Avhere Cupid's bow of ebony is specially charac- 

 terized as being deadly, — 



" Lay now thy deadly heben bowe apart." 



Again, in the same work, we find, 



" A gentle youth, his dearly loved squire, 



His speare of heben wood behind him bare. 

 Whose harmful head, thrice heated in the fire, 

 Had riven many a breast with pikehead square." 



Faerie Queue, i. , 7, 3". 



In Jamieson's Scottish Dictionary, we find " Heben, 

 adj., of or belonging to ebony. Hebenus, vel 

 hebenum, an heben tree." In the Promptorium 

 Parvulorium, a.d. 1440, we have "Eban, tre. 

 Ebanus," meaning that the English word eban, 

 denoting a tree, is Ebanus in Latin. The history of 

 the word is simply this ; that heben is the usual old 

 English spelling of ebon, the adjective formed from 

 a substantive, which was variously spelt as eban or 

 hebenon. Of these, hebenonis copied from the Latin 

 hebenum, for in Latin both the forms, hebenus and 

 hebenum, were in use. The Greek is hebenos, the 

 German ebenholz. The wood of the ebony tree is 

 black, astringent, and of an acrid, pungent taste, and 

 may easily have been considered as poisonous. 

 Even Milton, who uses the word twice, connects it 

 with things baneful and unholy. Melancholy is 

 supposed in " L' Allegro " to dwell " under ebon 

 shades," in some " Stygian cave forlorn, 'mongst 

 horrid shapes and shrieks, and sights unholy." 

 Again, in "Comus," we find that the "mysterious 

 dame Cotytto," who is never invoked " but when 

 the dragon woom of Stygian darkness spets her 

 thickest gloom," rides in a cloudy ebon chair. Briefly, 

 your correspondent may rest assured that the ex- 

 planation henbane is merely a stupid guess, and that 

 ebony is here meant. Why the juice of the ebony 



should have been considered poisonous, still admits 

 of farther illustration. — Walter W. Slceat. 



Shakespeare's Plants. — In reference to Mr. 

 Newlyn's remarks on the henbane, I would say that 

 the strongest evidence of its not being the plant 

 alluded to by the poet lies in the fact that the 

 Hyoscyamtis niger was known in Shakespeare's day 

 by its present English name : witness Jonson's 

 "Masque of Queenes," where the ninth hag says, 



" And I have been plucking (plants among; 

 Hemlock, henbane, adder's-tongue, 

 Nightshade, moone-wort, libbards-bane, 

 And twice by the dogs was like to be ta'en." 



Therefore it is not probable the immortal Will 

 called it hebony. Mr. Newlyn will find the juice 

 of the henbane can be easily extracted, if he bruises 

 the fresh leaves in a stone mortar. The effects of it 

 when improperly used are delirium, dimness of 

 sight, giddiness, and raving ; so far, it accords well 

 with the passage in "Hamlet." Henbane is a valuable 

 medicine in many of the ills flesh is heir to. It is 

 the best narcotic of any, but shofild always be taken 

 by prescription. — Helen E. Watney. 



Water Ranunculus. — According to Sowerby's 

 "English Botany," Ranunculus lenormandi, London 

 Catalogue (12), has only been reported from a few 

 of the counties, and does not appear to be reported 

 from Warwickshire. I find it growing plentifully 

 at Sutton in two of the streams, whilst hederaceus 

 is only sparingly represented. That species occurs 

 abundantly, however, all round our neighbourhood. 

 I enclose specimens of leaves, petals, and corpels ; 

 I intended to have sent perfect specimens, but 

 petals, &c, are so fugacious that the specimens I 

 gathered to-day had all shed their petals before I 

 got home. The petals, however, are five-veined, 

 and twice as long as the sepals, and the flowers are 

 about half an inch in diameter. Ranunculus fluitans 

 also occurs in very great abundance at Witton in the 

 brook that runs into the lane. And another little 

 rarity, Manchia erecta, I find sparingly represented 

 in two localities in Sutton Park — growing, however, 

 in wet sandy places, instead of dry sandy places, as 

 is its usual habit. — /. Rognall. 



Local Eloras. — The last part of the " Natural 

 History Transactions of Northumberland and Dur- 

 ham" contains " a new Elora of Northumberland 

 and Durham," of 31G octavo pages, by George Tate, 

 F.G.S., and John G. Baker, E.L.S. We have also 

 received "The Botany of Worcestershire; or, the 

 Distributionof the Indigenous and Naturalized Plants 

 of that Country," by Edwin Lees, E.L.S. , published 

 for the Worcestershire Naturalists' Club. These are 

 two excellent and trustworthy contributions to 

 British botany, and we hope that the example will 

 be followed by other naturalists' clubs in counties 

 which do not already possess a " local flora." 



