THE WONDERS OF VEGETATION. 201 



by some mysterious association, to be something of a 

 human being ; and the works written on magic in the 

 middle ages, numerous and implicitly believed as they 

 were, ascribed to it a supernatural power. Pliny men- 

 tions it fully, though Theophrastes calls it first An- 

 thropomorphosis / Columella speaks of it as the " half 

 man (semi-homo)', Eldal as the " man-headed-tree," and 

 popular traditions all over the world, as the " little-man 

 tree," etc. Its root is certainly a striking likeness of 

 a headless man walking rapidly on footless stumps ; 

 indeed, much more like a man than any thing the an- 

 cient Mexicans have graven on their monuments, or 

 our Indians write upon the leaves of their birch-bark 

 mystery books. It was a principal ingredient in the 

 composition of philtres, potions, and "charms intended 

 for evil purposes, and to cure barrenness. It is well 

 known that the Septuaginta gave the name of man- 

 drake to the plant dudaim, found by Reuben (Gene- 

 sis, ch. xxx.), while Luther arbitrarily changed it into 

 simple "lilies." 



The man who found the precious root was deemed 

 happy, since it gave him power to excite love where- 

 ever he chose, and exercised a divine influence upon 

 his destinies ; but its extraction-was protected by weird, 

 magic forms. When the little man-plant was up- 

 rooted, it gave forth groans ; it had to be gathered 

 under a gibbet, observing particular rites, and even 

 when gathered according to rule, displayed its won- 

 derful powers only under certain conditions. The 

 best method, Josephurahead teaches, was to get a dog 

 to uproot it, who paid with his life for his boldness ; 



