TREES IN MYTH AND LEGEND. 207 



German name "Buche" we owe our word book, since the sides 

 of big books were first made of beech boards. Again, among 

 certain people, as among the Indians, it is believed to be a non- 

 conductor of lightning. The Indians, in the prospect of a 

 thunderstorm, always take refuge under its boughs. The same 

 quality of being a non-conductor of lightning is said to be 

 possessed by the birch in Russia. 



Some religious associations appear to have been associated 

 with the hazel. In certain places where excavations have been 

 made, staves made of hazel wood have been found in the graves 

 of ecclesiastics. The use of the forked hazel twig as a divining 

 rod to indicate where metal lies beneath the surface of the earth 

 is still frequent in many mining districts. Even in comparatively 

 recent times mines have been sunk in Cornwall under the belief 

 that the presence of metal is indicated by the bending of the 

 hazel twig. 



"The Baneful Yew," the epithet of Virgil, was particularly 

 appropriate in times when man believed that the tree was 

 noxious. Pliny said, " It is unpleasant and fearful to look upon, 

 as a cursed tree without any liquid substance at all." The 

 Ancients would not sit beneath its shadow nor touch its fruits. 

 They would not allow their bee-hives to be placed near it, lest 

 the bee should suck its poison, nor would they drink wine from 

 the bowl made from its wood. Shakespeare calls it the "double 

 fatal yew." We know now, of course, that it is only the young 

 shoots of the yew which are malignant. Instances are known 

 of the juicy part of the fruit of the yew having been eaten 

 without any harmful results. 



As regards the juniper, the old notion of the Ancients that 

 the burning of the juniper wood expelled evil spirits from the 

 dwelling probably led to some of the superstitious practices of 

 later days with the plant. Various ceremonies connected with 

 the burning of the wood in some parts of Scotland during the 

 prevalence of an epidemic have led to the inference that the 

 practice is a remnant of Druidical superstition. The alder, again, 

 was supposed to have many medicinal virtues. A decoction 

 was made out of alder bark, which was supposed to be very 

 efficacious as a gargle in the case of a sore throat. A decoc- 

 tion of alder leaves was considered excellent against burnings 

 and inflammations. The leaves were applied to wounds, and 

 were recommended to be placed beneath the feet of the weary 



