184 TILLEES OF THE GKOUND CHAP. 



draught for the wind ; windy or elevated spots, on 

 the other hand, are totally exempt from it." 



Now if this is not a very satisfactory explana- 

 tion, it has at least an appearance of common-sense. 

 But, and this is a curious point, he goes on to give 

 other causes of mildew. The moon, he is disposed 

 to think, has something to do with it, then there 

 is something which falls from the Milky Way, 

 which, he thinks, must be taken into consideration. 

 Finally, there is the Dog-star belonging to " a con- 

 stellation baneful in itself, and to appease which 

 a young dog should first be sacrificed " ! If the 

 blight attacks the vines, then " three crabs " should 

 be burnt among the trees on which the vines are 

 trained. 



Now it does not do for us to laugh too much at 

 Pliny, for people believed very foolish things until 

 long after his day, and the people of the future will 

 probably think that we believe things just as foolish 

 as the usefulness of sacrificing a " young dog." It 

 is much better to try to find out exactly what the 

 people in Pliny's time really thought. It is clear 

 that by this time they had noticed that fields 

 which were more or less constantly damp, either 

 because they lay in hollows, or because they were 

 surrounded by high walls, were more likely to be 

 attacked by mildew than corn grown in exposed 

 places, and also that damp weather increased mildew. 



