THE DEVONSHIRE ASH-TREE CHARM. 
157 
doubt that, in most cases, the patients were sound after having 
undergone the treatment ; that there was a general belief that they 
had experienced cures ; and that the cases of apparent failure were 
due to defect in the health of the tree. I will not enquire to what 
extent the children were previously unsound. 
A writer, over the signature " H," in the Athenauim of September 
26th, 1846 (No. 987, p. 988), says, "It is not difficult to under- 
stand that the exposure of the infant to the genial influences of the 
morning air, and the washing which is also required, may, in some 
cases, give rise to an improved condition in the health of the child, 
which has been, no doubt, often attributed to the influences of 
the ash tree and the holed stone." 
The author is alluding to the charm as practised at Shaugh in 
this county — where alone, so far as I can find, the washing on 
three successive mornings was observed. I confess to considerable 
scepticism respecting the beneficial influences of exposing a naked 
infant to the morning air. 
VII. Speculation. 
1. Why the Ash? : — To say that its prominent connection with 
mythology led to the very prevalent selection of the Ash in curative 
charms may be a step in the right direction ; but, at most, it brings 
us only to the question, How was that connection attained 1 The 
suggestion by "L," in the Athenaeum of October 3rd, 1846 (No. 
988, p. 1018) that "of the reasons of the ash being used to pass 
children through, the most probable one seems to be, that the ash 
splits easiest and grows over soonest," may, whilst certainly prosaic, 
be not unphilosophical. 
The various striking characters and natural connections of the 
tree, and especially the numerous useful purposes to which, as Ave 
have seen, it was applied even in very early times, may have led 
men in the infancy of civilization, to regard the Ash as a general 
and a sacred benefactor, as it cannot be doubted was the fact in 
many other cases, and which is not without a parallel in the history 
of a probably still living Devonshire tree, as the following story 
will show : — 
During a ramble along the coast between the Start and Prawle 
Points, in South Devon, my attention was directed to a large and 
ancient Elder tree, adjacent to a ruined mill-house at Lannacombe 
Cove. 
