AND ORNAMENTAL TREATMENT. 31 



horn (fig. 221). If we should have awakened the interest of our readers by these remarks, they 

 will speedily be able to find out many other illustrations ; but if we have unfortunately failed 

 we shall have the greater reason for drawing our observations to a close. In any case, therefore, 

 we forbear to trespass at any greater length on the patience of any before whom these lines 



mai7 foil 



may fall. 



PLATE 17. 



" Herbs, too, she linew, and well of each could speak 



That in her garden sipp'd the silvery dew, 

 Where no vain flower disclos'd a gaudy streak, 



But herbs for use and physic, not a few 

 Of grey renown, within those borders grew ; 



The tufted basil, pun-provoking Thyme, 

 Fresh Baum, and Marygold of cheerful hue." — Shenstone. 



A certain amount of confusion has arisen from the name Celandine being applied to two 

 very dissimilar plants — one a species of Ranunculus, the R. Ficaria of botanists : the other the 

 Chelidonium inajus, the subject of the present plate. There is little or nothing in common be- 

 tween the two plants ; the first named has a stellate flower of some eight or ten brilliant yellow 

 petals, and small but very glossy kidney-shaped leaves. It is one of the earliest plants of Spring, 

 and is found abundantly in damp and shady places, covering the brown earth for many feet with 

 its carpet of glossy green and deep yellow ; this, from its never growing above six or eight' inches 

 high, is generally called the lesser Celandine. It was the favourite flower of Wordsworth, and, 

 as such, has been enshrined in his poetry. An ornamental arrangement, based on it, may be seen 

 in fig. 315. The larger Celandine has a cruciform flower, and a very deeply-cut and ornamental 

 leaf : the inflorescence is umbellate, the flowers being succeeded by small pods. The plant attains 

 a height of about two feet, is somewhat brittle, and, wherever broken across, a considerable 

 quantity of yellow juice, of an extremely bitter taste, exudes. Though often found in hedge- 

 banks, it is one of a numerous series of plants that seem more especially to delight in the neighbour- 

 hood of towns and villages. It is ordinarily found in flower during May, June, July, and August ; 

 and, being a perennial plant, it will, when once established^ be found year after year. Though a 

 plant eminently adapted to art work, we are not aware of its introduction into any work of a 

 decorative character ; it may, however, be seen very beautifully and truthfully introduced as a 

 foreground plant in the picture by Lucas Van Leyden, known as the " Legend of St. Giles and 

 the Wounded Hart." 



Both the generic name Chelidonium, and the familiar name Celandine, are derived from 

 the Greek word chelidon, a swallow. According to some old writers the swallows make use of its 

 juice to give eyesight to their young ; while others, with greater appearance of probability, give, 

 as an explanation of the name, the circumstance of the plant flowering at a time when these birds 

 first make their appearance, and perishing on their departure. One of the old herbalists, 

 adhering to the first opinion, says — " They say that if you put out the eyes of young swallows, 

 when they are in the nest, the old ones will recover them again with this herb ; this I am con- 

 fident, for I have tried it, that if we mar the very apple of their eyes with a needle, she will 

 recover them again." A very cruel experiment : a very dubious fact. Applying his knowledge 

 to a practical end, he goes on to say that if only the plant be gathered when the sun is in Leo, 

 and the moon in Aries, an ointment of wonderful efficacy for all diseases of the eyes may be pre- 

 pared. The juice was also highly commended as a remedy for jaundice, and other diseases of the 

 liver, as, according to the doctrine of signatures so firmly held during the Middle Ages, the deep 

 yellow of the juice was considered an indication of its value for such complaints. The juice has 

 decidedly poisonous qualities, and the remedy, Hke so many others of that period, was quite 

 of the kill-or-cure order. Orfila, to test its nature, inserted a small quantity, at three o'clock in 

 the afternoon, in an incision in the thigh of a dog ; the poor brute was found dead next morning. 

 The doctrine of signatures alluded to was based on the faith that each plant possessed some 

 healing virtue, and that every disease might thus be cured ; for that for each an antidote had been 

 provided by the goodness and wisdom of the Creator of all, and that He had in most cases 

 stamped visibly upon the plants sufficient proof of their fitness for the alleviation of the varying 

 ailments of mankind ; or, to quote the words of an old writer — " Though Sin and Sathan have 

 plunged mankind into an Ocean of Infirmities, yet the mercy of God, which is over all His 

 workes, maketh Grasse to grow upon the Mountains, and Herbes for the use of man, and hath not 

 only stamped upon them a distincte forme, but also given them particular signatures, whereby a 



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