1859.] CHAPTERS ON BRITISH BOTANY. 311 



years^ told the following story about the efficacy of this plant, 

 which he devoutly believed. One of his cows gave her milk 

 very unwillingly or ungraciously, i. e. she kicked and flung, 

 either hurt the milker or upset the milk-pail. Also the little 

 that she gave was good for nothing : if kept a week it yielded no 

 cream, a sure symptom of witchery. Both the cow and the 

 milk were bewitched. A wise-woman was consulted on the case, 

 and she advised that when the maid went to milk the cow, she 

 was to put a bit of St. John^s-wort in the pail, and this would 

 counteract the charm. The cow would be gentle as a lamb, and 

 the milk as plenteous and rich as ever. And so it was, the cow 

 became peaceable, gave her milk without any trouble, and the 

 cream was restored. To prevent the possibility of the occurrence 

 of a similar incantation, the herb St. John's-wort was directed 

 to be placed over the lintel of the cowhouse. 



The Fern certainly was known in very ancient times, and its 

 reproductive spores, or fern-seed, as it was named, obtained great 

 celebrity in the Middle Ages. The efficacy of fern-seed is often 

 assumed by our great national poet. 



The botany of Ceridwen, one of the ancient Welsh bards, is 

 described by Davies, in his ' Celtic Eesearches,' as follows : — 

 " Ceridwen, with due attention to the books of astronomy and 

 to the hours of the planets, employed herself daily in botanizing, 

 and in collecting plants of every species which possessed any 

 rare virtues" (Dav. p. 220). 



The decoction of the herbs, prepared, as above described, in 

 the mystic cauldron, was sprinkled by the hierophant on the as- 

 sembled neophytes. 



The contents of the mystic cauldron were five distinct ingre- 

 dients. First, berries, by some supposed to have been the fruit of 

 Tamus communis, or Lady ^s- seal, a plant subsequently dedicated 

 to the Blessed Virgin, and probably one regarded with some super- 

 stitious reverence. But the berries of Solarium Dulcamara, or of 

 Bryonia dioica, might have been substituted for those of the 

 former and rarer herb, and might have done just as well. The 

 Foam of the Ocean may be assumed to have been a marine Algal, 

 probably one of the Lavers, which in warm seasons float on the 

 sea. Cresses [Berwr) of a purifying quality, and laved in the 

 cool stream, can scarcely be ought but the plant so well known 

 by this name, and so much beloved by the inhabitants of Lou- 



