PLANT LORE, DRUG CHARMS, AND FOLK MEDICINE.
A curious survival of the age of superstition and romance attaches to
the red resin known as dragon’s blood, and is still largely practised
by a certain class of uneducated women in many parts of the country.
The resin is the product of the _Pterocarpus Indicus_ growing in the
East Indies, and now chiefly used as a colouring agent in varnishes and
stains, etc. It was formerly employed in medicine for its astringent
properties, but has now entirely gone out of use for that purpose.[4]
[4] The Egyptian magical texts show that hair, feathers, the
serpent’s skin, and “_the blood of the mystic eye_,” were used
as charms of protecting or destroying power. This very probably
denotes what is known as the charm of dragon’s blood, which is
still employed as a potent love charm or philtre, the blood
being now typified by the red resin of this name.
The secret of its use as a charm is shrouded in some mystery, and
those who use it are very reticent in giving particulars; but it has
been gathered, that several charms of a romantic nature are worked
with this otherwise very commonplace article of commerce. The most
common of these seems to be practised by young girls who are jealous of
their lovers and seek to win back their affection. A small quantity of
dragon’s blood is procured, wrapped in paper, and thrown on the fire
whilst the following couplet or incantation is repeated:—
“May he no pleasure or profit see,
Till he comes back again to me”.
Another method much believed in by women of a certain class, and
used by them to attract the opposite sex, is to mix dragon’s blood,
quicksilver, saltpetre, and sulphur, and throw them on the fire,
repeating a similar incantation.
A chemist in the north of England, giving his experience on the sale
of dragon’s blood, says: “I have had great difficulty in finding out
for what purpose it was used. It was not for medicine, but for a kind
of witchcraft. The women burn it upon a bright fire, while wishing
for their affection to be returned by some one of the opposite sex;
also those who have quarrelled with their husbands and desire to be
friends again; girls who have fallen out with their young men, and
want to win them back; as well as young women wanting sweethearts. A
working man recently came to me for a small quantity, and I inquired
for what purpose it was required. He was very reluctant to mention
anything about it, but at length said, a man had made him lose three
sovereigns, and he wished, as he had been swindled out of the money, to
have his revenge, and make him suffer for it. He was going to turn the
dragon’s blood on a clear fire, and he believed that the ill wishes of
the person thus burning it would have a dire effect on the individual
thought of.”
Another charm said to be worked with this drug, in which an inverted
teacup plays a prominent part, has reference to the sex of expected
offspring.
Altogether, considerable romantic properties seem to be associated with
this resin, but there seems to be no authentic record of the same,
the only probable explanation being, that it was used and sold, like
other innocent articles, by those who were supposed to have dealings
in the black art, for working charms, which have thus been handed
down from mediæval times. Coles states: “The early Greeks called
dragon’s blood _Cinnabaris_, not knowing whether it was of vegetable
or mineral origin; and that Pliny, Solinus, and Monardus have set it
down for truth that it was the blood of a dragon or serpent, crushed
to death by the weight of the dying elephant falling upon him; but he
thinks it was certainly so called from the bloody colour that it is
of, being nothing else but a mere gum”. It was used medicinally as an
emmenagogue, and in the arts 300 years ago by goldsmiths and painters
in glass, by the former as a base for enamel to set a foil under
precious stones to give them greater lustre, and the latter by fire, to
strike a crimson colour into glass for stained windows.
That a belief in charms and witchcraft is still fostered by ignorant
people in some parts of the country, is manifest from cases reported
in the newspapers from time to time. Two practitioners of the occult
sciences were haled before the magistrates but recently. One, an old
crone, who confessed to using dragon’s blood in working her love
charms, was rewarded with seven days with hard labour.
The other, which came to light in Cornwall, was a middle-aged
individual who practised as a wizard. His treatment consisted of
writing an amulet to be worn near the body. Money was then required to
remove the spell from the bewitched patient to some one else. To this
victim was to be lent neither “cock, pin, or pan,” and by the aid of
the planets the patient would be cured. But these are hard times truly
for the wizard and magician, and this professor was rewarded with
seven months’ incarceration in one of her Majesty’s gaols.
Singular superstitious properties are attributed to certain plants. The
walnut was formerly employed in medicine as an application to wounds
and an antidote to poisons; and the following old riddle, says William
Coles in 1657, “almost every one knows”:—
“As high as a house,
As little as a mouse,
As round as a ball,
As bitter as gall,
As white as milk,
As soft as silk”.
There is an old tradition that the more the branches are beaten, the
more prolific the fruit will be. There is a fable in Æsop of a woman
who asked the walnut tree growing by the wayside, which was pelted at
with stones and sticks by them that passed by, why it was so foolish
as to bring forth fruit seeing that it was so beaten for its pains, to
which the tree rehearsed these two proverbial verses:—
“Nux, Asinus, Mulier, Simili suret lege legati,
Haes tria nil recte faciunt si verbera cessent”.
“The English whereof,” the chronicler quaintly continues, “I could
tell you, but that I fear the women of this preposterous age would
be angry.” True it is that this tree, the more it is beaten the more
nuts it bears. The walnut was one of the chief ingredients in the
celebrated antidote against poison which was attributed to the wise
king Mithridates. The formula ran as follows: “Two (wall) nuttes and
two figges and twenty rewe beans, stamped together with a little suet
and eaten fasting, doth defende a man from poison and pestilence that
day”.[5]
[5] Bullen’s _Governmente of Health_. 1558.
Sage was much esteemed by the housewife for simple ailments, and its
properties are embodied in the following lines, which are of great
antiquity:—
“Sage helpes the nerves, and by its powerfull might
Palsies and Feavers, sharp it puts to flight”.[6]
An old writer says, “Be sure you wash your sage for fear the Toades,
who as I conceive come to it to discharge their poyson, should leave
some of their venom upon the Leaves”.
[6] William Coles, _Adam in Eden_. 1657.
Of rue, which was largely used as a carminative, the following couplet
has been handed down:—
“Rue maketh chast, and eke preserveth sight,
Infuseth wit, and Fleas doth put to flight”.
Tradition says that a weasel, going to fight with a serpent, eateth
rue, and rubbeth herself therewith to avoid his poison. Crollius
states: “The sign of the cross upon the seed of the rue, drives away
all phantoms and evil spirits by signature”.
Henbane, the Latins called Apollinaris, either from Apollo, the
inventor of physic, or because it makes men mad like unto Apollo’s
creatures when they deliver his oracles. “It was called in English
henbane, because the seeds are hurtful to hens,” says William Coles.
“The fumes of the dryed herb when burnt, will make Hens fall from their
roosting place as though they were dead.”
Of the moonwort, a simple used to allay bleeding and applied to
fractures, an old tradition says that it can be used to open locks,
fetters, and shoes from those horses feet that go on the places where
it groweth, and of this opinion was Culpepper, who, though he railed
against superstition in others, tells a story of a troop of horse of
the Earl of Essex, which being drawn up in a body, many of them lost
their shoes upon White Downe in Devonshire, near Tiverton, because
moonwort grows upon the heaths.
The root of the _Polygonatum angulosum_, commonly called Solomon’s
Seal, has a popular reputation for removing the congealed blood from
a bruise after a blow or fall, for which property it appears to have
been used 800 years ago. Coles states: “The bruised roots soddereth
and gleweth together broken bones very speedily and strangely, the
roots being stamped and outwardly applied as a pultis. The same also
is available for outward bruises, falls, or blowes, both to dispel the
congealed blood and to take away the paines, and the black and blew
markes that abide after the hurt.” The origin of the name Solomon’s
Seal is doubtless due to the dark marks seen on cutting the root
transversely, which somewhat resemble an ancient seal engraved with
characters.
Of Solomon’s Seal, Dioscorides says that “the root pounded and laid on
fresh wounds heals and seals them up”; and it is on this account that
Gerard considers its name to have originated.
An old author quaintly remarks with respect to its properties: “The
roots of Solomon’s Seale stamped while it is fresh and greene and
applied, taketh away in one night, or two at the most, any bruse,
blacke or blew spots gotten by fals, or woman’s wilfulness in stumbling
upon their hastie husband’s fists or such like”.
The anemone was regarded by the ancients as an emblem of sickness,
and Pliny tells us that the physicians and wise men ordered every
person to gather the first anemone he saw in the year, repeating at
the same time, “I gather thee for a remedy against disease”. It was
then devoutly placed in scarlet cloth and kept undisturbed unless the
gatherer became unwell, when it was tied either around the neck or the
arm of the patient.
The trefoil, vervain, St. John’s wort, and dill were supposed to
possess the power of protecting the wearer from the evil eye or
witchcraft, hence the old rhyme called Saint Colme’s charm:—
“Trefoil, vervain, John’s wort, dill,
Hinders witches of their will;
Well is them, that well may
Fast upon St. Andrew’s Day.
Saint Bride and her brat,
Saint Colme and his cat,
Saint Michael and his spear,
Keep the home frae reif and wear.”
There is an old tradition that the white veins of the variety of
thistle known as the _Carduus Marianus_ was caused originally by a drop
of the milk of the Virgin Mary having fallen thereon, and for this
cause the plant was in early times much revered.
The house leek, with its pretty rose-coloured flowers, often seen
growing along the tops of walls and on the roofs of cottages in
country places, was formerly known by the imposing name of the thunder
plant, from the power it was supposed to possess of averting lightning
from the house or building on which it was planted. Hence the custom of
planting it on the roof.
St. John’s wort was a noted herb in magical arts, and was also esteemed
as a repellant of spectres and to drive away demons, and was called
_Fuga Dæmonum_ by the old botanists. French and German peasants still
gather the plant with great ceremony on St. John’s Day.
That charming little wild flower the scarlet pimpernell, which grows in
our fields and hedges, ranked among the simples of ancient times. It
was used as a remedy against the plague, and an antidote against the
bites and stings of venomous insects, and to stop bleeding. This latter
attribute was doubtless more mythical than correct, being founded on
what the ancients called having the signature, which meant that if
a substance was of blood colour it signified it would stop bleeding
because of the same. Hung over the door or porch of a house, it was
believed to defend the inmates from witchcraft.
Josephus states in his _History of the Jews_[7] that Solomon
discovered a plant efficacious in the cure of epilepsy, and that he
employed the aid of a charm or spell for the purpose of assisting
its virtues. The root of the herb was concealed in a ring, which was
applied to the nostrils of the demoniac; and Josephus himself declares
that he saw a Jewish priest practice the art of Solomon, with complete
success, in the presence of Vespasian, his sons, and the tribune of the
Roman army.
[7] Lib. viii., c. ii., 5.
From this art, exhibited through the medium of a ring or seal, we have
the Eastern stories which celebrate the seal of Solomon and record its
wonderful sway over the various orders of genii, who were supposed to
be the invisible tormentors or benefactors of the human race.
“Vervain,” says Coles, “was reported to be effectual against all
poisons and the venom of dangerous beasts and serpents, and also
against bewitched drinks and the like, so that it is not only used in,
but against witchcraft. That this herb is used by witches may appear
from the story of Anne Bodenham, the witch of Salisbury, who sent her
ruffian-like spirits to gather vervain and dill, which was to be given
to one whom she desired to bewitch.”
The magi of the ancient Elamites or Persians made use of vervain in
their worship or adoration of the sun, always carrying branches of it
in their hands when they approached the altar.
They also believed that by smearing the body over with the juice of
this plant, the individual could have whatever he wished, be able to
reconcile his most inveterate enemies, cure diseases, and perform other
magical operations. They always gathered the plant when neither sun nor
moon was visible, and poured honey and honeycomb on the earth as an
atonement for robbing it of this precious herb.
The Greeks called it the Sacred Herb, and used it to cleanse the
festival table of Jupiter before any great ceremony took place.
The Romans also employed it in the performance of their religious
rites, for cleansing their altars, and sprinkling holy water.
It was hung in their dwellings to ward off evil spirits.
Vervain was also one of the sacred plants of the Druids, both in Gaul
and Britain. They cut it with much ceremony in the spring of the year,
and made offerings to the earth for so doing. They also used it to
anoint the body to cure disease.
The ancient Greeks and Romans dedicated it to the god of war, and in
Scandinavia it was deemed sacred to Thor. The eye anointed with an
ointment of vervain was supposed to possess second sight. Its influence
over Venus has doubtless to do with its use as a love token. It is said
that the custom is still practised in Germany of presenting a bride
with a wreath of vervain.
Other magic wreaths worn by lovers when they wished to see their fate,
were composed of rue, crane’s bill, and willow.
The hawkweed commonly seen in our fields was regarded by the Greeks
as the emblem of quick-sightedness, believing that the hawk, a bird
renowned for its bright eye and quick sight, sharpened its visual
organs with the juice of this plant. Thus it became famed in early
medical practice as a remedy for dimness of sight, and was employed to
feed the hawks used in the old art of falconry.
In Scotland, a twig of the rowan tree or mountain ash is often sewed up
in the cow’s tail, to protect the animal from witches and warlocks.
The squill was used by the Egyptians for dropsy, under the mystic name
of the “Eye of Typhon”.
An old name for the fruit of the mandrake was “love apples”. They were
frequently used in ancient times in philtres and love potions. This
plant belongs to the natural order _Solanaceæ_, which also includes
the potato and the tobacco plant. Its leaves spring directly from
the root similarly to those of the lettuce, before it shoots into
flower, and its purple-coloured blossoms are succeeded by a yellow
berry or “apple,” which still ripens in Palestine at the time of the
wheat harvest. An overdose of the fruit is said to produce a sort
of temporary insanity. From the earliest times it has been credited
with magical virtues, and supposed to confer superhuman powers on its
possessor. The most valued specimens were those which grew under a
gibbet where a malefactor hung in chains. It was believed that on being
torn from the earth the mandrake uttered a groan, and that whosoever
heard it, dropped dead on the spot. The approved method of gathering
it was to fasten the plant to a dog’s tail, and beat the animal till
his struggles pulled the root up. The dog heard the groan and died, but
those who directed the proceedings escaped by having their ears stopped
with pitch or wax.
It was customary in Germany in mediæval times to form or carve small
figures out of the mandrake root, which were called _abrunes_. “These
images,” says Phillips, “they dressed regularly every day, consulted as
oracles, and their repute was such that they were manufactured in great
numbers and sold in cases.”
They appear to have been brought over to England in the time of
Henry VIII., and met with ready purchasers, it being pretended that
they would, with the assistance of certain mystic words, be able to
increase whatever money was placed near them. These roots were said to
have been taken from plants which had grown underneath gibbets, and had
been influenced by the flesh of the criminals hung thereon.
It is singular how the willow has ever been associated with sorrow
and sadness, even from the time the daughters of Israel hung their
harps on its branches. Among heathen nations the tree was regarded as
an evil omen, and was used as torches at funerals. “The early poets,”
says Johns, “made the willow of despairing woe,” and Shakespeare
frequently alludes to it as being used to weave garlands for jilted and
sorrow-stricken lovers. Benedick says:—
“I offered him my company to a willow tree, either to make him a
garland, as being forsaken, or to bind him up a rod as being worthy
to be whipped”.
And Bona, in _Henry VI._, remarks:—
“Tell him, in hope he’ll prove a widower shortly,
I’ll wear the willow garland for his sake”.
It seems to have been customary to wear it twined round the head as a
symbol of sorrow and mourning, but the origin of the custom is unknown.
A peculiar virtue was supposed to be attached to the eating of almonds,
which is still believed in some parts of the country, _viz._, that it
protects the eater from drunkenness.
Gerard says, “Five or six being taken fasting keepe a man from being
drunke”.
The pretty flower called the bachelor’s button, which is common in
our hedgerows, is said to possess the following peculiar property of
divination. “When carried in the pocket by men, and under the apron by
women, it will retain or lose its freshness according to the good or
bad success of the wearer’s amatory prospects.”
A considerable amount of romantic lore lingers about the bean and nut.
The bean was regarded with veneration by both the Greeks and Romans,
and on account of its sacred associations became the instrument for
voting by ballot in early times. Nuts of various kinds have long been
associated with certain love charms, and some of these old customs,
such as the cracking of nuts, still survive and are practised on All
Hallow Eve. An old charm for nut-testing runs as follows:—
“Two hazel nuts I threw into the flame,
And to each nut I gave a sweetheart’s name;
_This_ with the loudest bounce me sore amazed,
_That_ in a flame of brightest colour blazed;
As blazed the nut, so may thy passion glow,
For ’twas _thy_ nut that did so brightly glow”.
There is an old tradition that the white hawthorn was used to plait the
sacred crown of thorns, and that from that time the tree was endowed
with special virtues.
An old writer says: “He that beareth a branch on hym thereof, no
thundre, ne, no maner of tempest may dere hym; ne, in the howse that it
is ynne may none evil ghost enter”.
A great amount of superstition was associated with various ferns in
mediæval times, and fern seed was supposed to possess the wonderful
property of rendering those who swallowed it invisible.
According to the doctrine of Signatures, various shaped leaves were
used for special diseases. A liver-shaped leaf was used to cure
complaints of that organ, and a heart-shaped leaf was used for diseases
of the heart, and so on.
The black hellebore was employed by the ancients to purify their
dwellings, and they believed that its presence in their rooms drove
away evil spirits. It was also customary to bless the cattle with
hellebore to keep them free from spells wrought by the wicked.
When dug up for these purposes, certain religious ceremonies were
observed. First a circle was drawn round the plant with a sword, and
then, turning to the east, a humble prayer was made by the devotee
to Apollo and Æsculapius, for permission to dig up the root. If an
eagle approached the spot during the performance of the rites, it was
supposed to predict the certain death of the person who took up the
plant in the course of the year.
It is related by Dioscorides that Carneades, the Cyrenaic philosopher
who undertook to answer the books of Zeno, sharpened his wit and
quickened his spirit by purging his head with powdered hellebore.
The peony owes its name to Pæon, a famous physician of ancient Greece,
who is said to have cured, by the aid of this plant, the wounds which
the Greeks received during the Trojan war. It was largely used as an
amulet, and demons were supposed to fly from the spot where it was
planted. A small piece was worn round the neck to protect the wearer
from enchantment.
There is a curious tradition connected with that charming little
flower the forget-me-not. It is, that the juice, or decoction of the
plant, has the peculiar property of hardening steel, and that if edged
tools of that metal be made red hot and then quenched in the juice or
decoction, and this be repeated several times, the steel will become
so hard as to cut iron without turning the edge.
The elder had a great reputation as an amulet. An old writer states,
“if one ride with two little sticks of elder in his pockets he shall
not fret nor pant let the horse go never so hard”.
According to the _Anatomie of the Elder_ (1655), “The common people
keep as a great secret in curing wounds the leaves of the elder, which
they have gathered the last day of April, which, to disappoint the
charms of witches, they had applied to their doors and windows”.
A piece cut out between two knots was worn as an amulet against
erysipelas.
Lupton says: “Make powder of the flowers of elder gathered on Midsummer
Day, being before well dryed, and use a spoonful thereof in a good
draught of Borage water, morning and evening, first and last, for the
space of a month, and it will make you seem young a great while”.
The elder is still believed in the south of Germany to drive away evil
spirits, and in Denmark and Norway it is held in the same veneration.
It is customary in the Tyrol to plant an elder bush in the form of a
cross on a new grave, and if it blossoms, the soul of the body interred
beneath is supposed to be in Paradise.