268 OUR ROCK-GARDEN 



ancient world, while others have it that it was 

 derived from Artemesia, the wife of King Mansolus, 

 who, according to Pliny, bestowed on this plant her 

 name. Whichever theory may be correct, we find 

 the plant thus named by Hippocrates, who was 

 born centuries before the Christian era. The 

 specific name is from the Greek apsinthion, an 

 alternative name for the plant which at all events 

 dates from the commencement of the Christian era, 

 since we find it in the writings of Dioscorides. In 

 modern days we find the named revived in absinthe, 

 a preparation largely distilled from this plant. The 

 Greek word signifies without delight, lacking attrac- 

 tiveness, and may have been suggested by the 

 inconspicuous flowers or in allusion to the very 

 bitter taste of the plant. 



While possibly an indigenous plant, the wormwood 

 is so markedly found in the neighbourhood of ruins 

 as to justify us in assuming that, at least in many 

 cases, it is a survival from the old herb-garden of 

 the monastery or manor-house. The plant has for 

 centuries been held in high esteem as a tonic and 

 febrifuge. Gerard, we note, commends it to us as 

 a welcome remedy from the biting of the dreaded 

 shrew-mouse or the venom of the sea-dragon, while 

 generation after generation of our forefathers re- 

 garded the wormwood as a potent remedy against 

 witchcraft and the evil powers of necromancy. 

 Hence they suspended it in .their houses or 



