pPant Isorc, Isege?^/, anel "Isi^ric/, 34c 



In Wales, the bells of the Foxglove are termed Menyg Ellyllon, or 

 goblins' gloves. No doubt on account of its connection with the 

 lairies, its name has been fancifully thought to have originally been 

 the Fairy Folks' Glove. The witches are popularly supposed to have 

 held the Foxglove in high favour, and to have decorated their 



fingers with its largest bells, thence called "Witches' Bells." 



Beautiful as it is, the Digitalis is a dangerous plant; no animal will 

 touch it, and it exercises a singular influence over mankind: it im- 

 pedes the circulation of the blood. We read in ' Time's Telescope' 

 for 1822, that the women of the poorer class in Derbyshire indulged 

 in copious draughts of Foxglove-tea, as a cheap means of obtaining 

 the pleasures of intoxication. It produces a great exhilaration of 



spirits, and has some singular effecfts on the system. Robert 



Turner tells us that the Foxglove is under Venus, and that, in 

 Hampshire, it is "very well known by the name of Poppers, be- 

 cause if you hold the broad end of the flower close between your 

 finger and thumb, and blow at the small head, as into a bladder, 

 till it be full of wind, and then suddenly strike it with your other 

 hand, it will give a great crack or pop." The Italians call the 

 plant Aralda, and have this proverb concerning it: '' Aralda tutte 

 piaghe salda" — "Aralda salveth all sores." Although containing a 

 poison, the Foxglove yields a medicine valuable in cases of heart- 

 disease, inflammatory fevers, dropsy, &c. 



"The Foxglove leaves, with caution given, 

 Another proof of favouring Heaven 

 Will happily display." 



FRANGIPANNI. — The Plumieria acuminata, or Frangipanni 

 plant, bears immense clusters of waxy flowers which exhale a most 

 delicious odour : these flowers are white, with a yellow centre, and 

 are flushed with purple behind. The plant is common throughout 

 Malaya, where Mr. Burbidge says it is esteemed by the natives as 

 a suitable decoration for the graves of their friends. Its Malay 

 name, Bunga orang sudah viati, is eminently suggestive of the funereal 

 use to which it is put, and means literally " Dead Man's Flower." 



Frangipanni powder (spices, Orris-roots, and Musk or Civet) 



was compounded by one of the Roman nobles, named Frangipanni, 

 an alchymist of some repute, who invented a stomachic, which he 

 named Rosolis, ros-solis, sun-dew. The Frangipanni tart was the 

 invention of the same noble. 



FRANKINCENSE.— Leucothea, the daughter of the Per- 

 sian king Orchamus, attra(5ted the notice of Apollo, who, to woo 

 her, assumed the form and features of her mother. Unable to 

 withstand the god's "impetuous storm," Leucothea indulged his 

 love; but Clytia, maddened with jealousy, discovered the intrigue 

 to Orchamus, who, to avenge his stained honour, immured his 

 daughter alive. Apollo, unable to save her from death, sprinkled 

 nectar and ambrosia over her grave, which, penetrating to the life- 



