The Life of the Caterpillar 



into a bunch and rub hard. The prescription, 

 by all accounts, is infallible. 



I thought at first that this was one of those 

 therapeutic absurdities which have their birth 

 in rustic imaginations. After making a trial, 

 I admit that what sounds like a nonsensical 

 remedy sometimes has something genuine 

 about it. Friction with three kinds of herbs 

 does actually deaden the sting of the Wasp 

 or Bee. 



I hasten to add that the same success is 

 achieved with a single herb ; and so the result 

 agrees with what the parsley and purslain 

 have taught us in respect of the irritation 

 caused by the Processionary. 



Why three herbs when one is enough? 

 Three is the preeminently lucky number; it 

 smacks of witchcraft, which is far from de- 

 tracting from the virtues of the unguent. All 

 rustic medicine has a touch of magic about it; 

 and there is merit in doing things by threes. 



Perhaps the specific of the three herbs may 

 even date back to the materia medica of an- 

 tiquity. Dioscorides recommends rpicpvKkov: 

 it is, he states, good for the bite of venomous 

 serpents. To determine this celebrated three- 

 leaved plant exactly would not be easy. Is it 

 148 



