236 On the Campus 



of silver and all hid treasures. Their roots had power 

 to rend the rocks and to pull down the banks of streams, 

 disclosing thus all manner of bright and precious things ; 

 even dainty herbs seemed to make for themselves a tri- 

 umphal way on the cliff-face all unsealed by human 

 effort, even the utmost. Plants were accordingly mirac- 

 ulous, wonder-working ; some seemed to possess the secret 

 of immortal life; their roots touched the unseen springs 

 of peace, their branches drew inspiration from the view- 

 less air, their fruits failed not through all the countless 

 years. How unlike the uneasy rudeness of human life 

 as it must have been in that far away morning when 

 feeblest creatures, urging forward day by day, on and 

 on, along humanity's predestined way, pushed to a fu- 

 ture utterly unknown and unsuspected; ever forward, 

 along the blindest of roads vexed by pain and strife, o'er- 

 hung by clouds heavy with constant fear, perpetual 

 boding, incomprehensible alarm ! 



Out of such conditions came the plant-lore of prehis- 

 toric times. What men thought about plants determined 

 somewhat their own behavior, made their history, and 

 in so far affected ours. 



The information we have in reference to all these mat- 

 ters is to some extent, of course, merely a matter of con- 

 jecture, nevertheless there are several lines along which 

 real intelligence may come. In the first place, as might 

 be suspected, literature, from earliest to latest, touches 

 it. Again, the names of plants often bring with them a 

 glimpse of their primal significance; this is especially 

 true of common plant-names among the people of western 

 Europe. But, more interesting than all, many very 



