pPant Isorc, Isegc^/, anel Isijric/. 381 



nails evenly placed. The old writers, however, seem to have con- 

 sidered that the Horse-Chesnut was so called from the Nuts being 

 used in Turkey (the country from which we first received the tree) 

 as food for horses touched in the wind. Thus we read in Par- 

 kinson's ' Paradisus ' : — " They are usually in Turkey given to horses 

 in their provender to cure them of coughs, and help them being 



broken winded." Evlia Efrendi,a Moslem Dervish, who travelled 



over a large portion of the Turkish empire in the beginning of the 

 seventeenth century, says : " The Santon Akyazli lived forty years 

 under the shade of a wild Chesnut-tree, close to which he is buried 

 under a leaden-covered cupola. The Chesnuts, which are as big as 

 an egg, are wonderfully useful in the diseases of horses." Tra- 

 dition says that this tree sprang from a stick which the saint once 



thrust in the ground, that he might roast his meat on it. The 



Venetians entertain the belief that one of these Nuts carried in the 



pocket is a sure charm against hemorrhoids. When Napoleon I. 



returned to France on March 20th, 1814, a Horse-Chesnut in the 

 Tuileries garden was found to be in full blossom. The Parisians 

 regarded this as an omen of welcome, and in succeeding years 

 hailed with interest the early flowering of the Mayronniey dii Vingt 

 Mars. (See also Chesnut). 



HORSE-KNOT.— The flowers of the Horse-knot Centauyca 

 nigra are also called Hard-heads and Iron-Heads, from the resem- 

 blance of the knotted involucre to an old weapon called Loggerhead, 

 which consisted of a ball of iron fixed to a long handle, the precursor 

 of the life-preserver, and the origin of the expression " coming to 



loggerheads." In the Northern Counties, the following rite is 



frequently observed by young people as a divination : — Let a 

 youth or maiden pull from its stalk the flower of the Horse-Knot, 

 cut the tops of the stamens with a pair of scissors, and lay the 

 flower by in a secret place, where no human eye can see it. Let 

 him (or her) think through the day, and dream through the night, of 

 the beloved one : then, on looking at the flower the next day, if the 

 stamens have shot out, the anxious sweetheart may expedl: success 

 in love ; but if not, disappointment. (See Centaury). 



HORSERADISH.— The Horseradish [Cochlcaria Armoracia) 

 is stated to be one of the five plants referred to by the Mishna, as 

 the " bitter herbs " ordered to be partaken of by the Jews during 

 the Feast of the Passover ; the other four being Coriander, Hore- 



hound. Lettuce, and Nettle. Horseradish is under the dominion 



of Mars. 



HORSE-SHOE PLANT.— The Horse-shoe Vetch {Hippo- 

 crcpis) derives its scientific name from the Greek words, 

 hippos, a horse, and crepis, a shoe, in allusion to its singular pods, 

 which resemble a number of horse-shoes united at their extremities. 

 Gerarde grew this plant in his garden, but he tells us that it is a 

 native of Italy and Languedoc, where it flourishes in certain 



