pPant l^orc, teeqe^/, and. Tsqric/, 56 1 



TANSY. — The herb Tansy [Tamcetum) has derived its name 

 from the Greek athanasia, immortality, it being supposed that this 

 herl) was referred to in a passage in Lucian's Dialogues of the 

 Gods, where Jupiter, sjjeaking of Ganymede, says to Mercury, 

 " Take him away, and when he has drunk of immortality 

 [athanasia] , bring him back as cup-bearer to us." In the Catholic 

 Ghurch the herb is dedicated to St. Athanasius, and in Lent cakes 

 arc flavoured with it. Gerarde says that the name athanasia was 

 given to the plant because the flowers do not speedily wither : 

 he also tells us that " in the Spring time are made with the 

 leaves hereof newly sprung up, and with egs, cakes or tansies, 



which be pleasant on taste, and good for the stomacke." 



In some country places, it is customary to eat Tansy pudding 

 at Easter, in allusion to the "bitter herbs" at the Passover. In 

 Sussex, a charm against ague is to wear Tansy leaves in the shoe. 



In some parts of Italy, people present stalks of the Wild 



Tansy to those whom they mean to insult. The Tansy is held 



to be a herb of Venus. 



TEA. — A Japanese Buddhist legend attributes the origin of 

 the Tea-plant (Thea Sinensis) to the eyelids of a devotee, which fell 

 to the ground and took root. The legend relates that about 

 A.D.5i9a Buddhist priest went to China; and, in order to dedicate 

 his soul entirely to God, he made a vow to pass the day and night 

 in an uninterrupted and unbroken meditation. After many years 

 of such continual watching, he was at length so tired, that he fell 

 asleep. On awaking the following morning, he" was so grieved 

 that he had broken his vow, that he cut off both his eyelids and 

 threw them on the ground. Returning to the same spot on the 

 following da}', he was astonished to find that each ej'elid had 

 become a shrub. This was the Tea-shrub (until then unknown in 

 China) — the leaves of which exhibit the form of an eyelid bordered 



with lashes, and possess the gift of hindering sleep. One Ibn 



W'ahab, who travelled in China some time in the ninth century, 

 makes the first authentic mention of Tea as a favourite beverage 

 of the Chinese. He describes it as the leaf of a shrub more bushy 

 than the Pomegranate ; and says that an infusion is made by 

 pouring boiling water upon it. 



TEREBINTH.— The Terebinth [Pistacia Tcrebinthus) is a 

 tree much venerated by the Jews. Abraham pitched his tent 

 beneath the shade of a Terebinth at Mamre, in the valley of 

 Hebron, and an altar was afterwards erecfted close by. The spot 

 whereon the tree of Abraham had flourished was in the time of 

 Eusebius still held in great reverence and sancftity, and a Christian 

 church was erecled there. Josephus, in his ' History of the Jews,' 

 recounts that the Terebinth of Abraham had flourished ever since 

 the creation of the world ; but a second legend states that it sprang 

 from the staftof one the angels who visited Abraham. At Sichem 



