20 



The Sacred Plant of the Druids. [Sess. 



These materials are generally imported in the rough con- 

 dition, and are prepared for brushmakers by " dressers " in 

 London, Manchester, and Glasgow. Firms engaged in this 

 branch of business have shown commendable enterprise in 

 the introduction of new materials, and have gathered botanical 

 products in every part of the globe — from Siberia to Ceylon, 

 from China to Peru. 



IV.— THE SACRED PLANT OF THE DRUIDS. 



By Dr WILLIAM WATSON. 



{Read Jan. 27, 1892.) 



The object of this paper is to show that two plants have been 

 confounded under one name. One is the mistletoe ( Viscum 

 album) of the English, the Germans, and the Scandinavians — 

 the plant sacred to Balder, the sun-god, and worshipped at the 

 solar festival of Yule, when the day, which for six months had 

 gradually got shorter and shorter, at last began to lengthen 

 again. The other is the sacred plant of the Druids, — the 

 priests of the ancient Gauls and Britons ; a plant which was 

 cut by them from oak-trees in the depth of the forest, the 

 priests themselves being crowned with garlands of oak-leaves, 

 so that it must have been cut in summer or autumn, not in 

 winter or spring. It is, of course, possible that two races sc- 

 unlike as the Celts and Saxons had one and the same sacred 

 plant, but it is not probable. We know how different they 

 are now. The Gaelic language is so difficult that no English 

 speaker can get his tongue round it. Celtic ideals of religion 

 and government are unintelligible or repulsive to the Saxon. 

 Caesar tells us that in his time the two races were as different 

 as they are now. He says the Germans differ from the Gauls 

 in speech, religion, manners, and customs. He particularly 

 mentions that the Germans have no Druids — " neque Druides 

 habent." Yet on the common theory adopted by Linnaeus, 

 that the mistletoe was the same as the sacred plant of the 

 Druids, the Germans certainly ought to have had Druids 



