MYSTIC PLANTS. 417 



strewed their couches with the leaves of the chaste 

 tree {Vitex agmis castus) for the purpose of banishing 

 impure thoughts, and hence the tree is said to have 

 derived its name. It is added that the ancient 

 physicians regarded the plant as an agent in securing 

 chastity. 



The dedication of the fruits of the earth to the 

 gods in the numerous festivals, of the vine to Bacchus, 

 and even of flowers, offer so few points of interest that 

 we may leave their investigation to more loving 

 hands. There is, nevertheless, an illustration of an 

 old mythic story, which, whilst it demolishes all the 

 poetry of the Promethean legend, exemplifies how 

 a very simple circumstance could be transformed by 

 the imagination into a romance. 



The Ferula of the ancients was the Fe^'ula covi- 

 munis of Crete, an umbelliferous plant, which may 

 be compared with our wood angelica, or hog-weed 

 Tournefort writes : " The hollow of the stem is occu- 

 pied by pith, which, being well dried, takes fire like 

 a match, without injuring the outer portion, and is 

 therefore much used for carrying fire from place to 

 place. Our sailors laid in a store of it. This custom 

 is of the highest antiquity, and may explain a pas- 

 sage in Hesiod, where, speaking of the fire that 

 Prometheus stole from heaven, he says that he 

 brought it in a Ferula, the fact being probably that 

 Prometheus invented the steel that strikes fire from 



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