^nfrocjucflon. xix. 



Misleading Herb, and in Franche Comte this herb is spoken of as 

 causing belated travellers to become light-headed or thunder-struck. 

 The Mandrake-root and the Fern-seed have the magical property 

 of granting the desires of their possessors, and in this respecft re- 

 semble the Sesame and Luck-flower, which at their owners' request 

 will disclose treasure-caves, open the sides of mountains, clefts of 

 rocks, or strong doors, and in ia.6t render useless all locks, bolts, 

 and bars, at will. The Spring-wort, through the agency of a bird, 

 removes obstacles by means of an explosion caused by the elecftricity 

 or lightning of which this plant is an embodiment. Akin to these are 

 plants known in our country as Lunary or Moonwort and Unshoe- 

 the-Horse, and called by the Italians Sferracavallo — plants which 

 possess the property of unshoeing horses and opening locks. A 

 Russian herb, the Rasrivtyava, belongs to the same group : this 

 plant fratflures chains and breaks open locks — virtues also claimed 

 for the Vervain [Eisenkraiit),Xh.e Primrose (Schlusselblume), the Fern, 

 and the Hazel. It should be noted of the Mistletoe (which is 

 endowed by nature with branches regularly forked, and has been 

 classified with the lightning -plants), that the Swedes call it 

 " Thunder-besom," and attribute to it the same powers as to the 

 Spring-wort. Like the Fly-Rowan {Fldg-ronn) and the Asvattha, 

 it is a parasite, and is thought to spring from seeds dropped by 

 birds upon trees. Just as the Druids ascribed peculiar virtues 

 to a Mistletoe produced by this means on an Oak, so do the 

 Hindus especially esteem an Asvattha which has grown in like 

 manner upon a Sami [Acacia Siima). 



It is satisfacflory to find that, although the Devil has had 

 certain plants allotted to him wherewith to work mischief and 

 destrucftion through the agency of demons, sorcerers, and witches, 

 there are yet a great number of plants whose special mission it 

 is to thwart Satanic machinations, to protecft their owners from 

 the dire effecfts of witchcraft or the Evil Eye, and to guard them 

 from the perils of thunder and lightning. In our own country, 

 Houseleek and Stonecrop are thought to fulfil this latter funcftion ; 

 in Westphalia, the Donnerkraut (Orpine) is a thunder protecftive; 

 in the Tyrol, the Alpine Rose guards the house-roof from lightning; 

 and in the Netherlands, the St. John's Wort, gathered before 



