MYSTIC PLANTS. 441 



up the root by means of a dog, which is killed by its 

 shriek. This is the salient feature of the superstition, 

 " To procure it, one must cut away all rootlets to the 

 main root ; to pull up that would cause death to any 

 creature hearing it. So one must stop his ears care- 

 fully, and, having tied a dog to the root, run away. 

 The dog is then called, and pulling up the root, is 

 instantly killed." 



It was believed in France and Germany that the 

 mandrake sprang up where the presence of a criminal 

 had polluted the ground, and was sure to be found 

 near a gallows. Having got the root, it must be 

 bathed every Friday, kept in a white cloth in a box, 

 and then it would procure manifold benefits. A letter, 

 written by a burgess of Leipsic to his brother in Riga 

 (in 1675), has been preserved, and this contains the 

 popular notion of the time as to the virtues of the 

 mannikin, earth-man, or mandrake. It recites that 

 the writer had heard of his brother that in " thy home 

 affairs hast suffered great sorrow ; that thy children, 

 cows, swine, sheep, and horses, have all died ; thy 

 wine and beer soured in thy cellar, and thy provender 

 destroyed ; and that thou dwellest with thy wife in 

 great contention.'' He then proceeds to say that he 

 went to those who understood such things, and they 

 told him that these evils proceeded not from God, 

 but from wicked people, and this was the remedy. 

 ' If thou hast a mandrake, and bring it into thy 



