272 pfant Tsore, "beger^/, dn9. Tsijrlc/'. 



other reasons for associating the Cassia with the Moon. They say- 

 that it is the only tree producing flowers with four petals which are 

 yellow — the colour of a metal, an element appertaining to the West, 

 the region where the Moon appears to rise. Then the Cassia-flower 

 opens in Autumn, a period when sacrifices are offered to the Moon ; 

 and it has, like the Moon, four phases of existence. During the 

 seventh Moon (August) it blossoms. At the fourth Moon (May) its 

 inflorescence ceases. During the fifth and sixth Moon (June and 

 July) its buds are put forth, and after these have opened into 

 leaf, the tree again bears flowers. Anglo-Indians call the Cassia 

 Fisttda, or Umultuss-tree, the Indian Laburnum : its long cylin- 

 drical pods are imported into England, and a sugary substance ex- 

 tradted from the pulp between the seeds is commonly used as a 

 laxative. Gerarde says this pulp of Cassia Fistula, when extradled 

 with Violet water, is a most sweet and pleasant medicine, and may 

 be given without danger to all weak people of what age and sex 

 soever. Lord Bacon writes in his Natural History : — " It is re- 

 ported by one of the ancients, that Cassia, when it is gathered, is 

 put into the skins of beasts, newly flayed, and that the skins cor- 

 rupting, and breeding wormes, the wormes doe devoure the pith 

 and marrow it, and so make of it hollow ; but meddle not with the 

 barke, because to them it is bitter." 



CATCH-FLY. — The Silene, or Catch-fly, received its English 

 name from its glutinous stalk, from which flies, happening to light 

 upon it, cannot disengage themselves. Gerarde gives the plant the 

 additional name of Limewort, and adds, that in his time they were 

 grown in London gardens, " rather for toies of pleasure than any 

 virtues they are possessed with." 



CAT MINT. — Gerarde, probably copying from Dodoens, 

 says of Cat Mint or Cat Nep, that " cats are very much delighted 

 herewith, for the smell of it is so pleasant unto them, that they rub 

 themselves upon it, and swallow or tumble in it, and also feed on 

 the branches very greedily." There is an old proverb respecting 

 this herb — 



" If you set it, the cats will eat it; 

 If you sow it, the cats won't know it." 



According to Hoffman, the root of the Cat Mint, if chewed, will 

 make the most gentle person fierce and quarrelsome ; and there is a 

 legend of a certain hangman who could never find courage to 

 execute his task until he had chewed this aromatic root. Nep or 

 Cat Mint is considered a herb of Venus. 



CEDAR. — Numerous are the allusions made in the Bible to 

 the Cedars of Lebanon [Cednis Libani), the tree which Josephus says 

 was first planted in Judea by Solomon, who greatly admired this 

 noble tree, and built himself a palace of Cedar on Lebanon itself. 

 The celebrated Temple of Solomon was built of hewn stone, lined 

 with Cedar, which was "carved with knops and open flowers; 



