MONSTERS AND SUPERSTITIONS. 



775 



ness that the magicians employed them in their incanta- 

 tions, and it was also under this form that the vulgar 

 thought they were found at the foot of gibbets, where, 

 after having fed on the remains of those who had suffered 

 punishment, they had taken on their shape. The tenants 

 of a place so sinister and so dreaded could not be removed 



341. Mandragora Roots Carved ; used for Euchantment. 



without great danger. The learned themselves did not at- 

 tempt to destroy so many absurdities, for in their works 

 they sometimes represent mandrakes which resembled men 

 and women, for there were some of both sexes. They pos- 

 sessed the same power as the enchanted philtres of Circe, 

 to which Pliny and Dioscorides had given this name. One 

 thing is certain, the mandrake is one of the most fatal 

 poisons we possess. 



A charming little plant, all covered with hairs, which 

 abounds on the slopes of Mount Ida, the dictamnus of 

 Crete {Origanum Dictamnus) was formerly considered the 

 most marvellous vulnerary that nature ever presented to 

 man. The gods themselves had revealed its omnipotence 

 to him, and animals instinctively made use of it. It was 

 with this dictamnus that Venus dressed the wounds of 

 ^neas. Aristotle tells us that the goats scattered over 



