162 PLANTS AND PLANETS. [CHAP. x. 



This I am confident, for I have tried it, that if we 

 mar the very apple of their eyes with a needle, she 

 will recover them again ; but whether with this herb 

 or not I know not." After this confession of wanton 

 cruelty we will give but one more selection from this 

 barbarous old astrologer-herbalist It refers to the 

 Devil's Bit Scabious : 



f( This root was longer, until the Devil (as the 

 friars say) bit away the rest of it from spite, envying 

 its usefulness to mankind ; for sure he was not 

 troubled with any disease for which it is proper." 



