40 



NOTES AND QUEEIES. 



[No. 19a. 



hard to stumble on a plant that is not an antidote 

 to the bite of serpents. Our old herbals were com- 

 piled, however, almost entirely from the writings 

 of the ancients, and from foreign sources. The 

 ancients had a curious notion relative to the plant 

 Basil (^Oscimum hasilicum), viz., "That there is a 

 property in Basil to propagate scorpions, and that 

 by the smell thereof they are bred in the brains of 

 men." Others deny this wonderful property, and 

 make Basil a simple antidote. 



" According unto Oribasius, physician unto Julian, 

 the Africans, men best experienced in poisons, affirm, 

 whosoever hath eaten Basil, although he be stung with 

 a scorpion, shall feel no pain thereby, which is a very 

 diiFerent effect, and rather antidotally destroying than 

 seminally promoting its production." — Sir Thomas 

 Browne, Vulgar Errors. 



An old writer gives the following anecdote in 

 point : 



" Francis Marcio, an eminent statesman of Genoa, 

 having sent an ambassador from that republic to the 

 Duke of Milan, when he could neither procure an 

 audience of leave from that prince, nor yet prevail 

 with him to ratify his promises made to the Genoese, 

 taking a fit opportunity, presented a handful of the 

 herb Basil to the duke. The duke, somewhat sur- 

 prised, asked what that meant ? ' Sir,' replied the am- 

 bassador, ' this herb is of that nature, that if you handle 

 it gently without squeezing, it will emit a pleasant and 

 grateful scent ; but if you squeeze and gripe it, 'twill 

 not only lose its colour, but it will become productive of 

 scorpions in a little time," — The Entertainer : London, 

 1717, p. 23. 



Pliny tells us that a decoction from the leaves 

 of the ash tree, given as a drlnlc, is such a remedy 

 that "nothing so soveraigne can be found against 

 the poison of serpents ; " and farther : 



*' That a serpent dare not come neare the shaddow of that 

 tree. The serpent will chuse rather to goe into the 

 fire than to flie from it to the leaves of the ash. A 

 wonderful goodnesse of Dame Nature, that the ash 

 doth bloome and flourish alwaies before that serpents 

 come abroad, and never sheddeth leaves, but continueth 

 green untill they be retired into their holes, and hidden 

 within the ground." 



The ancient opinion respecting the rooted anti- 

 pathy between the ash and the serpent is not to 

 be explained merely by the fact in natural history 

 of its being an antidote, but it has a deeply myth- 

 ical meaning. See, in the Prose Edda, the account 

 of the ash Yggdrasiil, and the serpents gnawing its 

 roots. Loskiel corroborates Pliny as to the ash 

 being an antidote : 



" A decoction of the buds or bark of the white ash 

 (Fraxinus Carolina) taken inwardly is said to be a cer- 

 tain remedy against the effects of poison," i.e. of the 

 rattlesnake. 



Serpents afford Pliny a theme for inexhaustible 

 wonders. The strangest of his relations perhaps 



is where he tells us that serpents, " when they 

 have stung or bitten a man, die for very greefe 

 and sorrow that they have done such a mischeefe." 

 He makes a special exception, however, of the 

 murderous salamander, who has no such "pricke 

 and remorse of conscience," but would " destroy 

 whole nations at one time," if not prevented. In 

 this same book (xxix.) he gives a receipt for 

 making the famous theriacum, or treacle, of vipers' 

 flesh. Another strange notion of the ancients was 

 "that the marrow of a man's backe bone will breed 

 to a snake " (Hist. Nat, x. 66.). This perhaps, 

 originally, had a mystic meaning ; for a great pro- 

 portion of the innumerable serpent stories have a 

 deeper foundation than a credulous fancy or lively 

 imagination. 



Take, for instance, the wide-spread legend of 

 the sea-serpent. Mr. Deane says, — 



"The superstition of 'the serpent in the sea' was 

 known to the Chinese, as we observed in the chapter 

 on the ' Serpent-worship of China.' But it was doubt- 

 less, at one time, a very general superstition among the 

 heathens, for we find it mentioned by Isaiah, ch. xxvii. 

 I., 'In that day the Lord, with his sore and great and 

 strong sword, shall punish Leviathan the piercing ser- 

 pent, even Leviathan that crooked serpent : and He 

 shall slay the dragoii that is in the sea.' " 



In Blackwood's Magazine, vol. ii. p. 645., vol. iv. 

 pp. 33. 205., may be found some interesting papers 

 on the " Scrakin, or Great Sea Serpent." 



Mr. Deane's Worship of the Serpent (London, 

 1830), and The Cross and the Serpent, by the Rev. 

 Wm. Haslam (London, 1849), are noble works 

 both of them, and ought to be in the hands of 

 every Clu-istian scholar. In these two words, 

 " Cross " and " Serpent," we have an epitome of 

 the history of the world and the human race, as 

 well as the ground-work for all our hopes and 

 fears. In them are bound up the highest mys- 

 teries, the truest symbolism, the deepest realities, 

 and our nearest and dearest interests. 



Lord Bacon thus narrates the classical fable 

 which accounts for the serpent's being gifted with 

 the power of restoring youth : 



" The gods, in a merry mood, granted unto men not 

 only the use of fire, but perpetual youth also, a boon 

 most acceptable and desirable. They being as it were 

 overjoyed, did foolishly lay this gift of the gods upon 

 the back of an ass, who, being wonderfully oppressed 

 with thirst and near a fountain, was told by a serpent 

 (which had the custody thereof) that he should not 

 drink unless he would promise to give him the burthen 

 that was on his back. The silly ass accepted the con- 

 dition, and so the restoration of youth (sold for a draught 

 of water) passed from men to serpents." — The Wisdom of 

 the Ancients (Prometheus, xxvi. ). 



That this, as well as the whole of the legend re- 

 lating to Prometheus, is a confused account of an 

 early tradition relative to the Fall of Man, and 

 his forfeiture of immortality, is obvious to any 



