In common with the mistletoe and vervain the Druids held the Selago
and Samolus as sacred plants, and never approached them but in the
most devout and reverential manner. When they were gathered for
religious purposes the greatest care was taken lest they should fall
to the earth, for it was an established principle of Druidism, that
every thing that was sacred would be profaned if allowed to touch
the ground; hence their solicitude to catch the anguinum:
"------------------When they bear
Their wond'rous egg aloof in air:
Thence before to earth it fall,
The Druid in his hallow'd pall
Receives the prize."
Pliny, in his _Natural History_ (lib. xxiv. cap. 11.)
gives a circumstantial account of the ceremonies
used by the Druids in gathering the Selago and
Samolus, and of the uses to which they were applied:--
"Similis berbæ huie sabinæ est Selago appellata. Legitur
sine ferro dextra manu per tunicam, qua sinistra
exuitur velut a furante, candida veste vestito, pureque
lotis nudis pedibus, saero facto priusquam legatur,
pane vinoque. Fertur in mappa nova. Hanc contra omnem
perniciem habendam prodidere Druidæ Gallorum, et contra
omnia oculorum vitia fumum ejus prodesse.
"Iidem Samolum herbam nominavere nascentem in humidis:
et hanc sinistra manu legi a jejunis contra morbos suum
boumque, nec respicere legentem: nec alibi quam in
canali, deponere, ibique conterere poturis."
From the very slight manner in which these plants are described by
Pliny, it is next to impossible to identify them with any degree of
certainty, though many attempts for the purpose have been made. So
far as I know, Pliny is the only ancient author who mentions them,
and we have therefore nothing to guide us beyond what he has said in
this passage.
The word Selago is supposed to be derived from _se_ and
_lego_, i.e. _quid certo ritu seligeretur_. Linnæus
appropriated the name to a pretty genus of Cape plants, but which
can have nothing whatever to do with the Selago of the Druids. It
has been thought to be the same as the Serratula Chamæpeuce of
Linnæus, but without sufficient reason, for Pliny says it resembles
the savine; and Matthiolus, in his _Commentary on Dioscorides_,
when speaking of the savine (Juniperus Sabina), says:--
"Siquidem vidi pro Sabina assumi quandam herbam
dodrantalem quæ quibusdam in montibus plurima nascitur,
folio tamaricis, licet nec odore nec sapore Sabinam
Hanc sæpius existimavi esse Selaginem referat. a Plinio
lib. xxiv. c. 11. commemoratam."
Samolus, or as some copies read Samosum, is said to be derived
from two Celtic words, _san_, salutary, and _mos_, pig;
denoting a property in the plant which answers to the description of
Pliny, who says the Gauls considered the Samolus as a specific in
all maladies of swine and cattle. {232}But there is not less
difficulty in identifying this plant than in the former case. Some
have thought it the same as the little marsh plant, with small white
flowers, which Linnæus calls Samolus Valerandi, while others
consider it to be the Anemone Pulsatilla. I am ignorant of the
salutary properties of these plants, and must leave it to be decided
which of them has the greatest claims to be considered the Samolus
of Pliny.