80 ORCHIDS. 
dedicated to, and superstitiously associated with, gods and god- 
desses of the nations. Upon the banishment of heathen mytho- 
logy by the spread of Papal civilization, these dedicated or 
worshipped things were transferred to the Virgin Mary, or to 
some canonized saint. Hence the beautiful plant we are now 
considering received the name Calceolus Mariannus,— Mary’s 
Slipper, —in the popular language of those times, “Slipper of 
our Lady;” in the common phrase of to-day, Lady's Slipper. 
