WORMWOOD 267 



exposed to the preservative effects of the distilled 

 oil, suffered no decay ; but whatever this precise 

 statement may be worth it does not indicate un- 

 ending life. Others tell us that the constant re- 

 course to the healing virtues of the plant preserves 

 the health and life itself far beyond the allotted 

 span of mankind who have neglected so great a 

 boon ; but after all there is a considerable diffe- 

 rence between a centenarian and an immortal, while 

 Lyte can give us no better explanation than that 

 the tansy flowers in their blossoming last longer 

 than most, which also does not take us very far 

 on the road to immortality. 



The wormwood is another plant to which we 

 gladly extend hospitality, both for its own sake 

 and for the associations that have gathered round 

 it as a plant of great healing power. The flowers 

 are small, of a dullish yellow, and inconspicuous, 

 but the leaves are very pleasing in form and of a 

 pale silvery-grey, so that the plant, as a mass, 

 stands out with bold individuality from amongst 

 its fellows. It is some two feet or so in height 

 and branches freely, so that it becomes a more or 

 less rotund bush. Botanically the wormwood is the 

 Artemesia Absinthium titles which carry us far 

 back indeed in the records of botanical science. The 

 generic name, some would tell us, is derived from 

 Artemis, the Diana of the Greeks, whose glorious 

 shrine at Ephesus was one of the wonders of the 



