ON THE MISSELTOE. 385 



any tree, the seeds adhere closely by means of the glutinous pulp 

 in which th.»y are imbedded, and will produce plants the following 

 winter. W e are informed by M r. Lees that he has attempted without 

 success, to plant the Misseltoe on the oak in this county; but he 

 attributes his failure, andprobably with justice, to having selected 

 a tree the bark of which was rugged lor his experiments. Mr. 

 Dovaston has lately succeeded in producing it upon the oak, in a 

 neighbouring county, under more favourable circumstances. 



Witli regard to the ordinary propagation of Misseltoe, there can 

 be little doubt that the seeds are carried by birds from one tree to 

 another. The Missel thrush is one of those which feed upon the 

 berries, and Ihe bird has been observed in the season when they 

 are ripe to drop its excrement, in which the seed has been found 

 on examination, entire, and apparently uninjured. 



The Misseltoe was of great importance in some of the sacred 

 rites of the Druids, as may be gathered from the following account 

 given by Pliny. — " The Druids hold nothing more sacred than the 

 Misseltoe, and the tree on which it is produced, provided it be the 

 oak. They make choice of groves of oak, on their own account, 

 nor do they perform any of their sacred rites without the leaves of 

 those trees ; so that one may suppose that they are for this reason 

 called, by a Greek etymology, Druids : and whatever Misseltoe 

 grows on the oak, (eninivero quicquid adnascatur Hits,) they think 

 is sent from heaven, and is a sign of God himself having chosen 

 that tree. This, however, is very rarely found, but when discover- 

 ed, is treated with great ceremony. They call it by a name which, 

 in their language, signifies the curer of all ills, (omnia sanantem,) 

 and having duly prej^ared their feasts and sacrifices under the tree, 

 they bring to it two white bulls, whose horns are then for the first 

 time tied. The priest, dressed in a white robe, ascends the tree, 

 and with a golden pruning-hook cuts off the Misseltoe, which is 

 received in a white sagiim or sheet. Then they sacrifice the 

 victims, praying that God would bless his own gift to those on 

 whom he has bestowed it.''* This passage is quoted by Parkhurst 

 in his Hebrew Lexicon, and by Dr. Adam Clarke in his Com- 

 mentary on the Holy Scriptures;! but we cannot agree with these 

 learned and enlightened authors, in tlie application which they are 

 disposed to make of this plant as a type. 



It is remarkable that the meaning of the ancient Celtic name 

 should still be retained in the modern appellations of this plant. 

 Thus it is still known in this country by the name of All-heal; and 

 the Germans still call the Misseltoe Guthyl or Gutheyl, that is, 

 Good heal, and ascribe extraordinary virtues to it.:}: 



The ceremony of cutting the Misseltoe, was, it appears, performed 

 on the sixth day of the moon, which was the beginning of the Druidical 

 months and years, and of their period of thirty years ;§ and it was 



* Pliny. Nat. Hist. lib. 17, c. 44. quoted in Parkhurst's Hebrew Lexicon. 

 t Clarke's Comm. on Gkn. 21. 33. % Parkhurst, loc. cit. 



II Sharon Turner's Hist, of the Anglo Saxoni, v. I. p. 82. 



