pPant "bore, Tscge^^ti/, anel. Isf^ncf, t;il 



sions, crampe, and wringings of the mouth and jaws, that it hath 

 seemed to some that the parties have died laughing, whereas, in 



truth, they have died in great torment." The Double Crowfoot, 



or Bachelor's Buttons, used formerly to be called St. Anthony's 

 Turnip, because of its round bulbous root : this root was reputed 

 to be very efficacious in curing the plague, if applied to the part 

 affected. According to Apuleius, it was a sure cure for lunacy, 

 if hung round the neck of the patient, in a linen cloth, " in the 

 wane of the Moon, when the sign shall be in the first degree of 



Taurus or Scorpio." The Persian Ranunculus is the Ranunculus 



of the garden. The Turks cultivated it under the name of Taro- 

 bolos Catamarlale, for several ages before it was known in other parts 

 of Europe. Their account of its introduction is, that a Vizier, 

 named Cara Mustapha, first noticed among the herbage of the 

 fields this hitherto neglected flower, and decorated the garden of 

 the Seraglio with it. The flower attracted the notice of the Sultan, 

 upon which he caused it to be brought from all parts of the East 

 where varieties could be found. This collection of Ranunculus 

 flowers was carefully preserved in the Seraglio gardens alone, 

 and only through bribery did at last some few roots find their way 



into other parts of Europe. Astrologers hold the Ranunculus 



to be under the rule of Mars. 



RASRIVTRAVA.— The Rasrivtrava is the Russian name of 

 a plant which has magical powers, enabling it to fracture chains 

 and break open locks, — properties which appertain also to the 

 Primula veris or Key of the Spring, to the Eisenkraut or Vervain, the 

 Mistletoe, the Lunary or Moonwort, the Springwort, the Fern, 

 and the Hazel. The word Rasrivtrava means literally the " Plant 

 that Opens." 



RASPBERRY. Formerly the Raspberry was very gene- 

 rally known as the Hindberry; and this name is still retained in 



some counties. It is thought that to dream of Raspberries 



betokens success, happiness in marriage, fidelity in a sweetheart, 

 and good news from abroad. 



REED. — King Midas is said to have expressed the opinion 

 that the Reed-pipes of the god Pan produced better music than 

 the lyre of Apollo. The offended god in consequence changed the 

 king's ears to those of an ass. Midas concealed his deformity 

 as long as he was able; but at length a barber discovered his 

 secret, and being unable to keep it, and at the same time dreading 

 the king's resentment, he dug a hole in the earth, and after whis- 

 pering therein, " King Midas has the ears of an ass," he covered 

 up the hole, and in it, as he hoped, the words divulging the secret. 

 But on that spot grew a number of Reeds, and when they were 

 agitated by the wind, instead of merely rustling, they repeated the 



buried words — " King Midas has the ears of an ass." Cato tells 



us the Roman country folks, when they had broken an arm or a 



