Self-styled wandering Turks and Armenians are frequently met with in
crowded cities vending rhubarb, tooth-powder, and various drugs and
nostrums, exciting the curiosity of the idlers that group around them, by
exhibiting a root bearing a strong resemblance to the human form. This is
the far-famed mandragore, of which such wonderful accounts have been
related by both ancients and moderns.
This plant is the _Atropa Mandragora_ of Linnaeus, and grows wild in the
mountainous and shaded parts of Italy, Spain, and the Levant, where it is
also cultivated in gardens. The root bears such a likeness, at least in
fancy's eyes, to our species, that it was called _Semi-homo_. Hence says
Columella,
Quamvis semihominis vesano gramine foeta
Mandragora pariat flores moestamque cicutam.
The word _vesano_ clearly refers to the supposed power it possessed of
exciting delirium. It was also named _Circaea_, from its having been one of
the mystic ingredients employed in Circe's spells; although the wonderful
mandragore was ineffectual against the more powerful herb the _Moly_,
which Ulysses received from Mercury. This human resemblance of the root,
which is, moreover, of a blackish hue and hairy, inspired the vulgar with
the idea that it was nothing less than a familiar daemon. It was gathered
with curious rites: three times a magic circle was drawn round it with a
naked sword; and the person who was daring enough to pluck it from the
earth, was subject to manifold dangers and diseases, unless under some
special protection; therefore it was not unusual to get it eradicated by a
dog, fastened to it by a cord, and who was whipped off until the precious
root was pulled out. According to Josephus, the plant called _Buaras_,
which was gifted with the faculty of keeping off evil spirits, was
obtained by a similar canine operation. Often, it was asserted, did the
mandragore utter piteous cries and groans, when thus severed from mother
earth. Albertus the Great affirms that the root has a more powerful action
when growing under a gibbet, and is brought to greater perfection by the
nourishing secretions that drop from the criminal's dangling corpse.
Amongst its many wonderful properties, it was said to double the amount of
money that was locked up with it in a box. It was also all-powerful in
detecting hidden treasures. Most probably the mandragore had bad qualities
to underrate its good ones. Amongst these, we must certainly class the
blackest ingratitude, since it never seemed to benefit the eloquent
advocates of its virtues, who, in general, were as poor as their boasted
plant was rich in attraction.
It was also supposed to possess the delightful faculty of increasing
population and exciting love; and the Emperor Julian writes to Calixines
that he is drinking the juice of mandragore to render him amorous. Hence
was it called _Loveapple_; and Venus bore the name of _Mandragontis_. It
has been asserted by various scholiasts, that the _mandrake_ which Reuben
found in the fields and carried to his mother, Leah, was the mandragore;
the _Dudaim_, however, which he gathered was not, according to all
accounts, an unpleasant fruit, but is supposed to have been a species of
orchis, still used in the East in love-philters and prolific potions. The
word _Dudaim_ seems to express a tuberculated plant; and in Solomon's
Songs, he thus describes it: "The mandrakes give a smell, and at our gates
are all manner of pleasant fruits, new and old, which I have laid up for
thee, O my beloved." Now it is utterly impossible, whatever may have been
the revolution in taste since the days of Solomon, that the nauseous and
offensive mandragore could have been considered as a propitiating present
to a lady.
The etymology of the word _Dudaim_ would seem to describe it. It is
derived from the word [Hebrew], (_Dadim_) breasts, or [Hebrew], (_Dodim_)
friends, neighbours, twins; which indicates that this plant is formed of
two similar parts. It is thought that the _Dudaim_ might be the
highly-scented melon which is cultivated in the East, especially in
Persia, and known by the name of _Destenbuje_, or the _Cucumis Dudaim_ of
Linnaeus, and which is also found in Italy, where its powerful aroma is
imparted to garments and chambers. It must have been an odoriferous
production, since in the _Talmud_ we find it denominated _Siglin_, which
has been considered the jessamine or the lily. The orchis is remarkable
for its double bulbous roots and its agreeable perfume; we may therefore
justify the idea that the _Dudaim_ of the Jews was a species of this
plant.
Frontinus informs us that Hannibal employed mandragore in one of his
warlike stratagems, when he feigned a retreat, and left in the possession
of the barbarians a quantity of wine in which this plant had been infused.
Intoxicated by the potent beverage, they were unable to withstand his
second attack, and were easily put to the sword. Was it the mandragore
that saved the Scotch in a similar _ruse de guerre_ with the Danish
invaders of Sweno? It is supposed to have been the _Belladonna_, or deadly
nightshade, the effects of which are not dissimilar to those of the plant
in question.
In the north of Europe, this substance is still used for medicinal
purposes; and Boerhaave, Hoffberg, and Swediaur have strongly recommended
it in glandular swellings, arthritic pains, and various diseases where a
profuse perspiration may be desirable.
Machiavel has made the fabulous powers of the mandragore the subject of a
comedy, and Lafontaine has employed it as an agent in one of his tales.
Another root that excited superstitious phantasies and reverential awe,
from its supposed resemblance to the human form, was the Gin-seng, a
Chinese production, which, according to the author of the
_Kao-li-tchi-tsan_, or Eulogium of the Kingdom of Corea, "imitates the
configuration of man and the efficacy of spiritual comfort, possessing
hands and feet like a human being, and the mental virtues that no one can
easily comprehend." According to Jartoux, _Gin-seng_ signifies "the
representation of man." It appears, however, that the learned father was
in error. _Jin_, it is true, signifies _man_; but _Chen_ does not mean
representation, but a _ternary body_. Hence _Gin-seng_ signifies the
_ternary of man, making three with man and heaven_!--no doubt some
superstitious tradition, since this root bears various names in other
countries, that plainly denote the veneration in which it was held. In
Japan it is called _Nindsin_, and _Orkhoda_ in the Tatar-Mandchou
language, both of which mean "the queen of plants." Father Lafitau
informs us that the name of _Garent-oguen_ of the Iroquois, which it also
bears, means the _thighs of man_. The _Gin-seng_ is a native of Tartary,
Corea, and also thrives in Canada, Virginia, and Pennsylvania, in shaded
and damp situations, as it soon perishes under the solar rays. The Chinese
attach considerable value to it. Thunberg informs us that it sometimes is
sold for forty pounds a pound; and Osbeck states that in his time it was
worth twenty-four times its weight in silver. This enormous price
frequently induced foreign smugglers to bring it into the Chinese
territory; but the severest laws were enacted to punish this fraudulent
traffic. The Tartars alone possess the privilege of cultivating and
collecting it; and the districts that produce this precious plant are
surrounded with palisades, and strictly guarded. In 1707, the Emperor of
China, to increase his revenue, sent a body of ten thousand troops to
collect the gin-seng. According to the Chinese physicians, this root
possesses the faculty of renovating exhausted constitutions, giving fresh
vigour, raising the drooping moral and physical faculties, and restoring
to health and _embonpoint_ the victim of debauchery. It is also said that
a bit of the root chewed by a man running a race will prevent his
competitor from getting the start of him. It is somewhat singular that the
same property is attributed to garlic; and the Hungarian jockeys
frequently tie a clove of it to their racers' bits, when the horses that
run against them fall back the moment they breathe the offensive odour. It
has been proved that no horse will eat in a manger if the mouth of any
other steed in the stable has been rubbed with the juice of this plant. I
had occasion to ascertain this fact. A horse of mine was in the same stall
with one belonging to a brother officer; mine fell away and refused his
food, while his companion throve uncommonly well. I at last discovered
that a German groom, who had charge of the prosperous animal, had recourse
to this vile stratagem. It is also supposed that men who eat garlic knock
up upon a march the soldiers who have not made use of it. Hence, in the
old regulations of the French armies, there existed an order to prohibit
the use of garlic when troops were on a march.