pfaat/" a}^^ Spirit/', 



143 



Bayes or of Olive, in here bekes, in stede of OfTryng, and leven 

 hem there ; of the whiche the monkes maken gret plentee of Oyle; 

 and this is a gret Marvaylle." 



pious Jjiifts anl) OlibtS. From Maundmile't Travels, 



The ancients entertained a strong belief that birds were gifted 

 with the knowledge of herbs, and that just as the Woodpecker and 

 Hoopoe sought out the Springwort, wherewith to remove obstruc- 

 tions, so other birds made use of certain herbs which they knew 

 possessed valuable medicinal or curative properties; thus Aristotle, 

 Pliny, Dioscorides, and the old herbalists and botanical writers, all 

 concur in stating that Swallows were in the habit of plucking 

 Celandine (Chdidoniiim), and applying it to the eyes of their young, 

 because, as Gerarde tells us, " With this hefbe the dams restore 

 sight to their young ones when their eies be put out." W. Coles, 

 fully accepting the fact as beyond cavil, thus moralizes upon it : — 

 "It is known to such as have skill of nature what wonderful care 

 she takes of the smallest creatures, giving to them a knowledge of 

 medicine to help themselves, if haply diseases annoy them. The 

 Swallow cureth her dmi eyes with Celandine ; the Wesell knoweth 

 well the virtue of Herb Grace; the Dove the Verven; the Dogge 

 dischargeth his mawe with a kind of Grasse; .... and too 

 long it were to reckon up all the medicines which the beestes are 

 known to use by Nature's direction only." The same writer, in his 

 ' Adam and Eden,' tells us that the Euphrasia, or Eyebright, derived 

 its English name from the fact of its being used by Linnets and 

 other birds to clear their sight. Says he: "Divers authors write 

 that Goldfinches, Linnets, and some other birds make use of this 

 herb for the repairing of their young ones' sight. The purple and 

 yellow spots and stripes which are upon the fiowers of Eyebright 

 very much resemble the diseases of the eyes, or bloodshot." 



