THE ELDER 67 



to form, when dried, an excellent sudorific antidote 

 to snake-bites. So many, indeed, were its supposed 

 medicinal virtues, that the great Boerhaave is said to 

 have taken off his hat to every Elder-tree he passed. 

 Well may our ancestors, therefore, have planted this 

 tree at their doors, to shield them alike from bodily 

 and from spiritual harm. The late Dr. Prior suggested 

 an etymology for the name Elder itself which may 

 explain some of the veneration with which the tree 

 has undoubtedly been regarded, apart from its many 

 medical applications. He connected the old iorra 

 " Eller," under which the name of the tree appears in 

 " Piers Plowman," with an early English word signify- 

 ing " kindler," " a name which," he says, " we may 

 suppose that it acquired from its hollow branches 

 being used, like the Bamboo in the Tropics, to blow up 

 a fire." If this be so, we can believe the Elder to 

 share that primitive sanctity which attaches to every- 

 thing connected with the production of fire. The 

 ancient Cornish name for the Elder was scavMn, 

 which occurs in many place-names in Cornwall and in 

 the family names Scawen and Boscawen. The name 

 still survives in Cornwall as skew-tree. 



The Elder seldom attains a great height, twenty. 

 to thirty feet, which it may reach in as many years, 

 being its limit; but its stems are sometimes nearly 

 two feet in diameter, a size indicating an age of 

 several scores of years. The bark of the old wood is 

 rough and corky, and of a light brownish grey colour ; 

 but the young shoots have a very pleasingly bright 

 grass-green surface, on which the darker cork-warts 

 are conspicuous, whilst the young foliage also has a 



