Bell-flower. — See Blue-bell, and Campanula. 



BETEL. — According to Indian traditions, the Betel was 

 brought from heaven by Arjuna, who, during his journey to 

 Paradise, stole a little bough of the sacred tree, which, upon his 

 return to earth, he carefully planted. In remembrance of this 

 celestial origin of the tree, and of the manner of its introduction to 

 earth, Indians who desire to plant the Betel invariably steal a 



few young shoots. The Betel, or Pepper-tree {Piper betle), is 



most highly esteemed by the Indian races, who attribute to its 

 leaves no less than thirty properties or virtues, the possession of 

 which, even by a plant of heavenly origin, can scarcely be credited. 

 It is the leaf of the Betel which serves to enclose a few slices of 

 the Areca Nut (sometimes erroneously called the Betel Nut); and 

 these, together with a little Chunam or shell-lime, are what the 

 natives universally chew to sweeten the breath and strengthen the 

 stomach. The poor, indeed, employ it to keep off the pangs of 

 hunger. In certain parts of the East, it is not considered polite 

 to speak to a superior without some of the Betel and Areca com- 

 pound in the mouth. At Indian marriage ceremonies, the bride 

 and bridegroom exchange between themselves the same Areca 



Nut, with its accompanying Betel-leaf. In Borneo, a favoured 



lover may enter the house of the loved one's parents, at night, and 

 awaken her, to sit and eat Betel Nut and the finest of Sirih-leaves 

 from his garden. 



BETONY.— The 'Medicinal Bctony,' as Clare calls it, is 

 Betonica officinalis, and of all the simples praised by old herbalists, 

 both English and foreign, none (the Vervain excepted) was awarded 

 a higher place than Wood Betony. Turner, in his ' Brittish 

 Physician ' (1687), writes: — " It would seem a miracle to tell what 

 experience I have had of it. This herb is hot and dry, almost to 

 the second degree, a plant of Jupiter in Aries, and is appropriated 

 to the head and eyes, for the infirmities whereof it is excellent, as 

 also for the breast and lungs ; being boiled in milk, and drunk, it 

 takes away pains in the head and eyes. Probatum. Some write it 

 will cure those that are possessed with devils, or frantic, being 

 stamped and applied to the forehead." He gives a list of between 

 twenty or thirty complaints which Betony will cure, and then says, 

 " I shall conclude with the words I found in an old manuscript 

 under the virtues of it : ' More than all this have been proved of 

 Betony.' " Gerarde gives a similar list, and adds, that Betony is 

 " a remedy against the bitings of mad dogs and venomous serpents, 

 being drunk, and also applied to the hurts, and is most singular 

 against poyson." There is an old saying that, when a person is ill, 



he should sell his coat, and buy Betony. The Romans were well 



acquainted with the medicinal properties of this herb. Pliny wrote 

 of the marvellous results obtained from its use, and also affirmed 

 that serpents would kill one another if surrounded by a ring com- 



