THE JKIS. 403 



dothe in two dales, at the most, take awaie the black- 

 nesse and blewnesse of any stroke or bruse ; so that 

 if the skinne of the same woman, or any other per- 

 son, be very tender and delicate, it shall be needful 

 that ye laye a piece of silk, sendalle, or a piece of 

 fine laune between the plaistre and the skinne, for 

 otherwise in such tender bodies it often causeth hete 

 and inflammation/' I can but attribute to these 

 qualities the Welsh name of Llys Tiychgryg y glosia, 

 or, rough-blowing herb-of-pain, though the explana- 

 tion is scarcely satisfactory. Llys Gamminiad sig- 

 nifies herb of the falcon, or more properly of the 

 peregrine falcon. Withering mentions a case in 

 which the fresh root of the corn-flag (S. pseudacorus') 

 having been given to some swine bitten by a mad 

 dog, they entirely escaped the disease ; while some 

 others bitten at the same time, having been kept 

 without it, died with all the symptoms of confirmed 

 hydrophobia. The Romans called it " consecratrix," 

 for its being used in purifications, and Pliny men- 

 tions certain ceremonies in digging up this plant, 

 which are very similar to those described by him 

 and by Theophrastus in other cases. " Those," he 

 says, " who intend taking up the iris, drench the 

 ground around it some three months before with 

 hydromel, as though a sort of atonement offered to 

 appease the earth ; with the point of a sword, too, 

 they trace three circles round it, and the moment 

 they gather it, they lift it up towards the heavens." 

 I do not know whether the Dalmatians had the 

 same custom, but if so the Illyric name Bogisca 

 may have some connection with it : Bog signifying 



