PLANTS IN WITCHCRAFT. 833 



was lately in my shop, and in pulling out her purse brought out 

 also a piece of stick a few inches long. I asked her why she car- 

 ried that in her pocket. ' Oh/ she replied, ' I must not lose that, 

 or I shall be done for.' ' Why so ? ' I inquired. * Well,' she 

 answered, ' I carry that to keep off the witches ; while I have that 

 about me, they can not hurt me.' On my adding that there 

 were no witches nowadays, she instantly replied : ' Oh, yes ! there 

 are thirteen at this very time in the town, but so long as I have 

 my rowan-tree safe in my pocket they can not hurt me.' " 



Occasionally when the dairy-maid churned for a long time 

 without making butter, she would stir the cream with a twig of 

 mountain-ash, and beat the cow with another, thus breaking the 

 witch's spell. But, to prevent accidents of this kind, it has long 

 been customary in the northern counties to make the churn-staff 

 of ash. For the same reason herd-boys employ an ash-twig for 

 driving cattle, and one may often see a mountain-ash growing 

 near a house. On the Continent the tree is in equal repute, and 

 in Norway and Denmark rowan-branches are usually put over 

 stable-doors to keep out witches, a similar notion prevailing in 

 Germany. No tree, perhaps, holds such a prominent place in 

 witchcraft-lore as the mountain-ash, its mystic power having 

 rarely failed to render fruitless the evil influence of these enemies 

 of mankind. 



Lastly, to counteract the spell of the evil eye, from which 

 many innocent persons were believed to suffer in the witchcraft 

 period, many flowers have been in requisition among the numer- 

 ous charms used. Thus, the Russian maidens still hang round 

 the stem of the birch-tree red ribbon, the Brahmans gather rice, 

 and in Italy rue is in demand. The Scotch peasantry pluck twigs 

 of the ash, the Highland women the groundsel, and the German 

 folk wear the radish. In early times the ringwort was recom- 

 mended by Apuleius, and later on the fern was regarded as a pre- 

 servative against this baneful influence. The Chinese put faith 

 in the garlic ; and, in short, every country has its own special 

 plants. It would seem, too, that after a witch was dead and 

 buried, precautionary measures were taken to frustrate her bane- 

 ful influence. Thus, in Russia, aspen is laid on a witch's grave, 

 the dead sorceress being then prevented from riding abroad. 



The first mention of a canal to unite the oceans was made — to assert its impos- 

 sibility — by an old Spanisb historian, P. Acosta, who said, in 1588, that "no 

 human power would be sutBcient to cut through the strong and impenetrable 

 bonds which God has put between the two oceans of mountains and iron rocks " ; 

 and he added, " If it were possible, it would appear to me to be very just to fear 

 the vengeance of Heaven for attempting to improve the works which the Creator, 

 in his almighty will and providence, ordered from the creation of the world." 

 VOL. XXXIV. — 53 



