746 The Zoologist— May, 1807. 



it bee not to be had green e, to take it drift, and to beat it into powder, 

 and to blow it into her eye with a quill, and this shall recure the 

 hawke." 



A marginal note to this paragraph informs us that " Arondell"* in 

 French is " Hirundo," a swallow, otherwise called " Chelidon." 



Parkinson, in his ' Thealrum Botanicura ' (1610), alludes to two 

 species of Celandine, C. major and C. minor, and says : — " Some call 

 them Chclidonia major and minor, and tooke the name, as Dioscorides 

 saith, because it springeth when swallowes come in j and withered at 

 their going away (which is true in neither, the greater whereof 

 Dioscorides chiefely speaketh, being greene both winter and sommer; 

 and the lesser springeth before swallowes come in, and is gone and 

 withered long before their departure). Dioscorides likewise, and Pliny 

 also, say it tooke that name from swallowes that cured their young 

 ones 1 eyes, that were hurt, with bringing this herbc and putting it to 

 them : but Aristotle, and Celsus from him, doe shew that the young 

 ones of partridges, doves, swallowes, &c, will recover their sight, 

 (being hurt) of themselves in time, without anything applyed unto 

 them, and therefore Celsus accounteth this saying but a fable." 



It is curious to observe how universally this plant appears to be 

 associated with the swallow. We are told that Chelidonium major is 

 " Celidonia maggiore " of the Italians, " Yerva de las golondriuhas " 

 of the Spaniards, " Chclidoine Felongue" and "Esclaire" of the 

 French, and " Schwalbenkraut" of the Germans ; while we, in English, 

 call it " Celandine," " Swallow's herb " and " Swallow-wort." 



To revert to the " Swallow-s/ow<?." The connection between the 

 herb and stone is this, that both were brought to the nest by the bird, 

 and both were deemed good for the eyes. 



The above-mentioned authors make no mention of the " stone ;" that 

 is to say, no mention of it with special reference to its curing diseases 

 of the eye, nor indeed to its being brought to the nest by the parent 

 bird.f A friend has suggested that the tradition may have origi- 

 nated with the Chiuese, to whom the edible swallows nests have 



* "Arondell," no doubt tbe old French, or a corruption of " Hirondelle." 

 •J- I have not overlooked the following passage in Pliny, but it is not quite to tbe 

 point: — " Avibus renter carnosus callosusque. Iu ventre birundinum pullis lapilli 

 candido aut rubcuti colore, qui cbelidouii vocantur, magicis uarrati artibus reperiuntur." 

 Elsewhere tbe same author goes further than would be expected, and informs us that 

 swallows themselves may be used medicinally : — " Auxiliatur contra serpeutes et 

 columbaruui caro recem coucerpta, et hirundinutn.'' 



