PRACTICES TO OBTAIN CHILDREN 45 



powers. 1 In particular, it has been held potent as a 

 cause of pregnancy. Henry Maundrell, travelling- in 

 Palestine in the spring of 1697, little more than two 

 centuries ago, was informed that it was then customary 

 for women who wanted children to lay mandrakes 

 under the bed. 2 It is probable that he did not learn 

 the whole truth. At the present day, in the extremely 

 modern city of Chicago, orthodox Jews are living who 

 import mandrakes from the East. These mandrakes 

 "are rarely sold for less than four dollars, and one 

 young man whose wife is barren recently paid ten 

 dollars for a specimen." The roots, from their shape, 

 "are still thought to be male and female; they are 

 used remedially, a bit being scraped into water and 

 taken internally ; they are valued talismans ; and they 

 ensure fertility to women. " 3 The root of the mandrake, 

 or mandragora, in common with that of several species 

 of plants, has a rough resemblance to human shape 

 a resemblance which was and still is heightened by 

 art. From this resemblance, according to the doctrine 

 of Signatures, it probably was that the belief in its 

 magic, and especially its procreative, power arose. 

 The prescription current in the Middle Ages for 

 gathering mandrakes dates from classical times. Pliny 

 directs those who gather the plant to take care to 

 keep on the windward side, to circumscribe it thrice 

 with a sword (that is evidently, to surround it with a 

 magic circle drawn with iron) and then to dig it up at 



1 Gen. xxx. 14 ; Joseph. Ant. i. 19. The mandrake seems to be 

 still used by Jewish and Moslem women in Palestine, (Folklore, xviii. 

 67). It is said to smell offensively. This probably applies only to 

 the root, since the golden-yellow fruit is aromatic (Internat. Arch. 

 vii. 204; Song of Solomon, vii. 13). 2 Early Trav. 434. 



3 Starr, in American Antiquarian, 1901 (1902 ?), 267. 



