THE MISTLETOE AMD PARASITIC PLANTS. 
203 
were the ministers of many things, both secular and sacred. 
They worshipped many of the Roman deities, and regarded the 
oak as a sacred tree. Under its shadow they performed most 
of their sacrifices, and no religious ceremony was entered upon 
by them without wearing a garland of its leaves. The mistletoe 
growing on the oak received from them the same homage as the 
tree itself. . The ceremony of cutting the mistletoe from the oak 
is described by Pliny, and seems to have been the occasion for a 
great religious festival. It took place as near the 10th of 
March in each year as possible, and was performed by the Arch 
Druid himself, who, having tied two white bulls to the tree by 
their horns, then mounted the tree, clothed in white, and with 
a knife of pure gold separated the mistletoe from its parent 
tree, which was received in a “ white sagum,” or cloth made 
of wool; this done, the bulls were sacrificed, and they pro- 
ceeded to the further observances and feastings. Our own 
national custom of decorating our churches and homes with 
mistletoe at Christmas time may be a remnant of this old super- 
stition. Moreover, it would appear that the Druids were the 
medicine-men of the time, and in their prescriptions the 
mistletoe was a frequent ingredient to be taken with incanta- 
tions. Pliny tells us they had a name for it equivalent to All-heal, 
and it was esteemed peculiarly good in epilepsy or falling sick- 
ness. This reputation does not seem to have disappeared with 
the Druids ; for, although some of the ancients looked upon the 
mistletoe as poisonous, the old herbalist Gerarde, in 1636, 
gives his opinion as quite the reverse, and says — 
A few berries of the mistletoe, bruised and strained into oile and drunken, 
hath presently and forthwith rid a grievous and sore stitch. 
He also quotes Galen, who says — 
His acrimony overcometh his bitterness, for if it be used in outward appli- 
cations, it draweth humours from the deepest and most secret parts of the 
body, spreading and dispersing them abroad and digesting them. 
We are inclined to think that the imagination of the patient 
had more to do with the efficacy of the mistletoe plasters, 
as it has with many modern and still favourite remedies, 
than any virtue in itself. The only practical use to which we 
now apply the berries of the mistletoe is in the manufacture of 
birdlime. 
Much discussion has taken place as to whether the 
Loranthus or Viscvm album was the true mistletoe of the 
Druids. To my mind there can be but one conclusion in 
favour of the latter. Loranthus does not naturally grow in 
Great Britain, and the true mistletoe, Viscum album, as also 
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