_Symbolism of the Fir-cone_ (Vol. i., p. 247.).--The Fir-cone on the
Thyrsus--a practice very general throughout Greece, but which is very
prevalent at Athens, may perhaps, in some degree, account for the connexion
of the Fir-cone (surmounting the Thyrsus) with the worship of Bacchus.
Incisions are made in the fir-trees for the purpose of obtaining the
turpentine, which distils copiously from the wound. This juice is mixed
with the new wine in large quantities; the Greeks supposing that it would
be impossible to keep it any length of time without this mixture. The wine
has in consequence a very peculiar taste, but is by no means unpleasant
after a little use. This, as we learn from Plutarch, was an ancient custom
(_Sympos. Quæst._ iii. and iv. p. 528. edn. Wytten); the Athenians,
therefore, might naturally have placed the Fir-cone in the hands of
Bacchus. ("Lord Aberdeen's Journals," Appendix to Walpole's _Memoirs of
Turkey, &c._, vol. i. p. 605.)