Lotus. 
217 
be believed that he had been changed into a constellation. 
Naturalists have differed greatly respecting the nature of the 
ancient Egyptian lotus, some even asserting that it was a 
thorny shrub, and others saying that it was only a man’s name; 
but the evidence of several writers of antiquity is so precise, 
that there cannot be the slightest doubt of its lily origin. It 
is described by Herodotus as “the water-lily, that grows in the 
inundated lands of Egypt. The seed of this flower, which 
resembles that of the poppy, they bake and make into a kind 
of bread. They also use the root of this plant, which is round, 
of an agreeable flavour, and about the size of an apple. 
Theophrastus describes it in similar terms in his “ History of 
Plants,” as also does Pliny. It was formerly styled the “ Lily 
of the Nile,” from its growing in abundance on the banks and 
about the marshes which formed the delta of that river. 
It is the Nymphcea lutu,s of Linnaeus ; is a stately and ma¬ 
jestic plant, rising above the surface of the water at sunrise ; 
folding its petals and sinking beneath it at sunset. It has a 
calyx like that of a large tulip, and diffuses an odour similar 
to that of the lily. 
A writer of an erudite article on “ Floral Symbols,” which 
appeared in “Eliza Cook’s Journal,” and to which we are in¬ 
debted for several valuable allusions, suggested that “ the 
wonderful physical peculiarities in the growth of this plant 
rendered it an appropriate symbol of a worship of the most 
degrading and immoral character. ’ 
Alas! that man should so far divert these lovely “floral 
apostles ” from their intended typifying purposes of love and 
innocence, and thus cause them to 
“Weep without woe, and blush without a crime ! ” 
In Japan, however, the lotus is typical of purity, and is, with 
the flower of the motherwort, borne aloft in vases at funeral 
processions. 
Moore, in a note to “ Lalla Rookh,” respecting little looking- 
glasses which certain Asiatic maidens wear upon their thumbs, 
remarks that the lotus is the emblem of beauty ; but the lines 
which he adduces in confirmation of this idea serve better to 
illustrate the symbolism of silent eloquence. Two lovers are 
supposed to be holding mute intercourse before their parents: 
