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as a medicine, The Poplar-leaved Fig is the Devil's tree ; the 

 berry of the Deadly Nightshade, the Devil's berry: the plant itself 

 is called Death's Herb, and in olden times its fruit bore the name of 

 Dwale-berry — the word dvale, which is Danish, meaning a deadly 

 trance. An old German name for the Briony was Devil's Cherry. 

 The Germans, also, called the Petty Spurge (Euphorbia Peplus) 

 Teufclsmilch, Devil's Milk; a species of ground Moss, Teufelsklaeun, 

 Devil's Claws. The Clematis is the Devil's Thread ; Indigo, Devil's 

 Dye ; and the Mandrake, from the lurid glare its leaves emit during 

 the night-time, the Devil's Candle. In an old work we find the 

 description of a small herb called Clavis Diaboli, which is so 

 poisonous that if cattle eat it they immediately begin to swell, and 

 eventually die, unless by good luck they should happen to catch sight 

 of another plant of the same species, when the poison is dispelled 

 and the animals will recover. We are likewise assured that the 

 seed is so poisonous as to render it unsafe for anyone to walk over 

 a plant of this genus unless his feet have previously been wrapped 

 in the leaves. 



Scahiosa succisa is generally known as the Devil's-Bit Scabious, 

 a name it obtained from a notion which was formerl}' very preva- 

 lent that the short blackish root of the plant had originally been 

 bitten short by the Devil out of spite to mankind, because he knew 

 that otherwise it would be good for many profitable uses. This 

 belief was also very general on the Continent, as the plant bears a 

 corresponding name in France, Germany, and Holland. Dr. Prior 

 quotes a legend recorded by Threlkeld, that " the root was once 

 longer, until the Devil bit away the rest, for spite; for he needed 

 it not to make him sweat who is always tormented with fear of 

 the day of judgment." According to the Ortits Sanitatis, on the 

 authority of Oribasius, the plant was called Morsus Diaboli, " because 

 with this root the Devil practised such power, that the mother of 

 God, out of compassion, took from the Devil the means to do so 

 with it any more ; and in the great vexation that he had that the 

 power was gone from him, he bit it off, so that it grows no more to 

 this day," Gerarde says : " The great part of the root seemeth to 

 be bitten away : old fantasticke charmers report that the Devil did 

 bite it for envie, because it is an herbe that hath so many good 

 vertues, and is so beneficial to mankinde." After recounting minor 

 virtues, the old herbalist remarks that Devil's Bit is potential 

 against the stingings of venomous beasts, poisons, and pestilent 

 diseases, and will consume and waste away plague sores, if pounded 

 and laid upon them. 



The Nigella Damascena is called Devil-in-the-Bush, from its 

 round capsules peering from a bush of finely-divided involucre. 

 The long awns of Scandix Pecten are termed the Devil's Darning 

 Needles, the beans of its seed vessels being called Venus' comb. 

 The Dodder (Cuscnta) has gained the opprobrious epithet of Devil's 

 Guts, from the resemblance of its stem to cat-gut, and its mis- 



