206 CHAPTERS ON BRITISH BOTANY. \July , 



the fire was never suffered to be without fuel, nor without an 

 attendant, forms a prominent object in the incantations of those 

 times. "The five ingredients of this Circsean decoction were 

 called berries, and the foam of the ocean, the purifying cress, 

 laved in the clear fountain, a contribution of ivort, the founder 

 of liquor, . . . and the placid^ cheerful vervain." Learning and 

 science can only guess at the present names of these plants. 



The fruit of the Lady's-seal, Afal Adda, Tamus communis, is con- 

 jectured to be one of the ingredients of this vegetable soup ; the 

 Ocean-foam is probably some one or other of the floating Algals, 

 Ulva ; the Cress may be what is still known by this name ; Wort 

 is possibly Mentha piperita, or some Mint, which being either in- 

 fused or distilled, produced a potent liquor ; the cheerful Vervain 

 is either the plant still so called, or probably a member of the 

 Labiate family. 



The Hierobotane, sacred herb, or Peristereon, or Verbenaca, of 

 Pliny, is generally believed to be the Verbena officinalis, or com- 

 mon Vervain of modern botanists ; though the description given 

 in Pliny, lib. xxv. ch. 59, does not correspond with the latter 

 plant. Pliny says, " They have " (both varieties, the male and 

 female, as he calls them) " numerous thin branches, a cubit in 

 length, and of an angular form. The leaves are smaller than 

 those of the Oak, and narrower, with larger indentations. The 

 flower is of a grey colour, and the root is long and thin. The 

 plant is to be found everywhere in level humid localities. ^^ Pliny^s 

 Vervain, whatever it was, diflers from our modern plant both in 

 size, frequency, and locality. The Vervain does not grow in 

 moist places, it is not found everywhere, and its branches are 

 not a cubit long. It may be impossible nov>' to identify Pliny^s 

 plant, but it is probable that it was not our plant so called. 



The same historian informs us that '' the people in Gaul use it 

 for soothsaying purposes, and for the prediction of future events ; 

 but it is the magicians, more particularly, that give utterance to 

 such ridiculous follies in reference to the plant. Persons, they 

 tell us, if they rub themselves with it, will be sure to possess the 

 objects of their desires; and they assm'e us that it keeps away 

 fevers, conciliates friendship, and is a cvire for every possible dis- 

 ease ; they say, too, that it must be gathered about the rising of 

 the Dog-star, but so as not to be shone upon by sun or moon ; 

 and that honeycombs and honey must be first presented to the 



