pfant Tsore, Isege?^^/, dnSi Isijricy. ^41 



from Serapias [Serapis] , the pod of the citizens of Alexandria, in 

 Egypt, who had a most famous temple at Canopus, where he was 

 worshipped with all kinds of lascivious wantonnesse, songs and 

 dances." Turner says of the roots of Satyrion, that all the species 

 have a double root, which alter every year, " when one waxeth 

 full, the other perisheth and groweth lank." The full root, he 

 says, powerfully excites the passions, but the lank ones have 



exacTtly the opposite effecft. Astronomers place Satyrion under 



the rule of Venus. 



SAVIN. — The Savin {Junipcyus Sahina), in some parts of 

 Italy, is held in great abhorrence as a plant of evil repute : it is 

 called the " Devil's-tree," and the " Magician's Cypress," on account 

 of the great use of it made in olden times by sorcerers and witches 



when working their spells. Savin is reputed by astrologers to 



be a herb of Mars. 



SAVORY. — Savory or Satureia was considered by the ancients 

 as a herb belonging to the Satyrs; hence matrons were specially 

 warned to have nothing to do with it, as the plant was supposed 



to have disastrous effecfts on those about to become mothers. 



Savory is held to be under the dominion of Mercury. 



SAXIFRAGE. — Of the genus Saxifraga, twenty species are 

 indigenous to Great Britain. In olden times, it Avas noticed that 

 these plants split rocks by growing in their cracks, so, on the doc- 

 trine of signatures, certain of the species were supposed to be 

 efficacious in cases of calculus, and were indeed highly esteemed 

 on that account by the Roman physicians. In England, the name 

 Breakstone was bestowed on them for the same reason ; the plants 

 most employed by the herbalists being the Meadow Saxifrage, or 

 Mead Parsley, the White Saxifrage, and the Burnet Saxifrage, 

 To this family of plants belongs S. uvtbrosa, the familiar London 

 Pride, known also by the names of None-so-pretty, Prattling 

 Parnell, and St. Patrick's Cabbage (from its growing in the West 



of Ireland). Astrologers state that the Moon governs the 



Saxifrages. 



Scorpion Grass. — See Forget-me-Not. 



Sea Holly. — See Eryngo. 



SEA POPPY.— The Sea Poppy or Horned Poppy (Glauaum) 

 is named after Glaucus, a Boeotian fisherman, who, \yhilst pursuing 

 his calling, observed that all the fishes which he laid on the grass 

 received fresh vigour as they touched the ground, and immediately 

 escaped from him by leaping back into the sea. He attributed the 

 cause of it to some herb growing among the grass, and upon tasting 

 the foliage of the Sea Poppy, he found himself suddenly moved with 

 an intense desire to live in the sea. Upon this he leaped into the 

 water, and was made a sea god by Oceanus and Tethys. This 

 Glaucium or Sea Poppy was called in the middle ages Ficus infernalis : 



