THE LIVE-LONG. 259 



ling-place. A similar feeling formerly prevailed in 

 England, and probably still lingers in by-places, 

 and unsophisticated districts, as it does in Wales, 

 where the peasantry cling as fondly to the old belief 

 in its power both to protect the house from thunder 

 (on which account it may be observed to be always 

 carefully planted on smith's forges, which from the 

 quantity of iron lying about, may be supposed 

 doubly attractive to lightning), and to ensure the 

 prosperity of the inmates, as the most home-loving 

 German. In some parts of England it is considered 

 unlucky to let this plant flower, on which account 

 the flower-stalk is constantly cut off before it shoots 

 up to any height. The idea may perhaps have arisen 

 from the circumstance that after flowering the leaves 

 of the plant sometimes fall off, leading the observer 

 to imagine that the whole plant is about to die. 

 Pliny mentions the stonecrop as infallible for pro- 

 curing sleep. But to produce this effect, it is 

 necessary to wrap the plant in a black cloth, and 

 to lay it under the pillow of the patient, carefully 

 avoiding any chance of his, or her, knowing that it 

 is there. 



In speaking of the stonecrops I include with them 

 the closely allied houseleek (sempervlvum) as it is 

 thus classed by all non-scientific observers, and shares 

 the virtues, both supernatural and physical, attri- 

 buted to the others. The Hay dlern of the Arabs is 

 the Sedum confertum, the only Egyptian species of 

 this genus. We have in Britain but one true 

 houseleek (8. tectorum). All these plants, except 

 one, are highly valuable as cooling and healing 



