572 pPaat "bore, "bcgc"?^/, aail Isijric/. 



its malaria, and caused the birds of the air that flew over it to 

 drop lifelessly down. Leagues away, its noxious emanations, borne 

 by the winds, proved fatal. When a Javanese was condemned to 

 death, as a last chance, his pardon was offered to him if he would 

 consent to go into the Valley of Death, and gather, by means of 

 a long Bamboo-rod, some drops of the poison of the Upas. 

 Hundreds of unhappy creatures are said to have submitted to this 

 trial, and to have miserably perished. 



VALERIAN. — The ancient name of this plant, according 

 to Dioscorides, was Phu, and in botanical phraseology Garden 

 Valerian is still Valeriana Phu. The Latins called the plant 

 Valeriana, some say from its medicinal value, others from one 

 Valerius, who is reputed first to have used the herb in medicine; 

 but the derivation is really uncertain. The old English name of 

 the plant was Setewale, Setwal, or Set-wall. Chaucer writes : — 



" Ther springen herbes grete and smale, 

 The Licoris and the Setewale." 



And, speaking of the Clerk of Oxenforde, he says: — 



" And he himself was swete as is the rote 

 Of Licoris, or any Setewale." 



Gerarde tells us that the plant was known in his day by the name 

 of Valerian, Capon's Tail, and Setwall, but that the last name 

 really belonged to the Zedoaria, which is not Valerian. The old 

 herbalist also records that the medicinal virtues of Valerian were, 

 among the poorer classes in the North, held in such veneration, 

 " that no broths, pottage, or physical meats are worth anything if 

 Setwall were not at an end : whereupon some woman poet or other 

 hath made these verses : — 



' They that will have their heale 

 Must put Setwall in their keale.'" 



Cats are so fond of the perfume of Valerian, that they are said to 

 dig up the roots, rolling on them with ecstatic delight, and gnawing 

 them to pieces. The aeflion of the Valerian-root (which the her- 

 balists found out was very like a cat's eye) on the nervous system 

 of some cats undoubtedly produces in time a kind of pleasant in- 

 toxication. Rats are also attracfted by the odour of this plant. 

 Astrologers say that Valerian is under the rule of Mercury. 



Venus' Plants. — See Lady's Plants. 

 Veronica. — See Speedwell. 



VERVAIN. — The Vervain, or Verbena, has from time im- 

 memorial been the symbol of enchantment, and the most ancient 

 nations employed this plant in their divinations, sacrificial and 

 other rites, and in incantations. It bore the names of the Tears 

 of Isis, Tears of Juno, Mercury's Blood, Persephonion, Demetria, 

 and Cerealis. The Magi of the ancient Elamites or Persians made 

 great use of the Vervain in the worship of the Sun, always carrying 



