444 Dfant "[©ore, "begeT^/*, anil "l^qric/. 



rocks almost barren; and he describes, in his ' Iron Age,' the step- 

 dame occupied in preparing a deadly potion of this plant : — 



" I.nrida terribiles miscent Aconita noverccz." 



In Greece, the Wolf's Bane is credited with many malignant in- 

 fluences, and the fevers so common in the neighbourhood of 

 Corinth were attributed to it. Until the Turks were dispossessed, 

 the Aga proceeded every year in solemn procession to denounce it 



and hand it over to destrucflion, In North India, a species, 



Aconitum fcrox, is used as a poison for arrows — the poison which is 

 obtained from the roots being of remarkable virulence and acT:ivity 

 when infused into the blood. 



MOON DAISY. — The Chrysanthemmn Leucanthemum, a large 

 Daisy-like flower, resembles the picStures of a full moon, and on this 

 account has acquired the name of Moon Daisy. From its use 

 in uterine diseases, this plant was dedicated by the ancients to 

 Artemis, goddess of the Moon, Juno Lucina, and Eileithuia, a deity 

 who had special charge over the funcf^ions of women — an office 

 afterwards assigned by the Romish Church to St. Mary Magdalene 

 and St. Margaret. Hence, in the Middle Ages, the Moon Daisy 



became known as Maudelyne or Maudlin-wort. The plant is 



also called the Ox-e3^e and Midsummer Daisy; and in France, this 

 flower, known as the Paquerette, is employed, like the Bluet, as a 



divining-flower, to discover the state of a lover's affecftions. 



The Midsummer Daisy is dedicated to St. John the Baptist. 



MOON WORT. — The Fern Botrychinm Lwiaria has derived 

 its name of Moonwort from the crescent shape of the segments 

 of its frond. Perhaps it is this lunar form which has caused it to 

 be so highly esteemed for its supposed magical properties. The 

 old alchymists professed to be able, by means of the Moonwort, 

 which they called Ltmayia minor, or Lesser Lunary,to extracfl sterling 

 silver from Mercury, By wizards and professors of necromancy no 

 plant was held in greater repute, and its potency is attested by 

 many old writers. Gerarde refers to the use made by the alchymists 

 of this Fern in those mystic compounds over which they pored 

 night and day, and he also states that it was a plant prized by 

 witches, who called it Martagon. In Ben Jonson's ' Masque of 

 Queens,' a witch says to her companions : — 



"And I ha' been plucking plants among 

 Hemlock, Henbane, Adder's-tongue ; 

 Nightshade, Moonwort, Libbard's-bane, 

 And twice by the dogs was like to be ta'en." 



Coles, referring to the mystical chara(5\er of the Moonwort, observes: 

 " It is said, yea, and believed by many, that Moonwort will open 

 the locks, fetters, and shoes from those horses' feet that goe on 

 the places where it groweth ; and of this opinion was Master 

 Culpeper, who, though he railed against superstition in others, yet 



