not obtain the herb, they draw the form of the plant on the ground
with its root. It is difficult to understand why so sacred and so
fragrant a herb as Sweet Basil should have become the symbol of
Hatred, unless it be because the ancients sometimes represented
Poverty by the figure of a female clothed in rags, and seated by a
plant of Basil. The ancient Greeks thought that when Basil was
sown, the act should be accompanied by abuse, without which it
would not flourish. Pliny also records that it throve best when
sown with cursing and railing. This explains the French saying,
“ Semer le Basilic,” equivalent to slandering. The plant has a
decided funereal symbolism. In Persia, where it is called Rayhan,
“ the Basil-tuft, that waves
Its fragrant blossom over graves,
is usually found in cemeteries. In Egypt, the same p ant is
scattered over the tombs by the women who go twice or oftener
a week to pray and weep at the sepulchres of the dead. In Crete,
the Basil is considered a symbol of the E v il One, although it is to
be found on every window-ledge. It is unfortunate to dream of
Basil, for it is supposed to betoken grief and misfortune. It was
probably these sinister and funereal associations of the plant that
induced Boccaccio To make the unhappy Isabella conceal her
murdered lover’s head by planting Basil in the pot that contained
i t ; although it is surmised that the author of the ‘ Decameron ’
obtained the idea from Grecian sources. It is, however, satisfadtory
to find that in Italy the Basil is utilised for other than
funereal purposes. De Gubernatis tells us that in some districts
pieces of Basil are worn by maidens in their bosoms or at their
waists, and by married women in their hair ; they believe also that
the perfume of Basil engenders sympathy, from which comes its
familiar name, Bacia-nicola—Kiss me, Nicholas ! Rarely does the
young peasant girl pay a visit to her sweetheart without affixing
behind her ear a sprig of Basil, which she takes special care not to
part with, as that would be a token of scorn. In Turkey, they call
Basil, Amorim. In Moldavia, the Basil is regarded as an enchanted
flower, whose spells can stop the wandering youth upon his
way, and make him love the maiden from whose hand he shall
accept a sprig. -In the East, Basil seeds are employed to
counteradt the poison of serpents: in India the leaves are used for
the same purpose, as well as for the cure of several diseases.
Gerarde says that “ they of Africke do also affirme that they who
are stung of the scorpion, and have eaten of it, shall feele no paine
at all.” Orisabius likewise asserts that the plant is an antidote to
the sting of those insedls; but, on the other hand, Hollerius declares
that it propagates scofpions, and that to his knowledge an
acquaintance of his, through only smelling it, had a scorpion bred
in his brain. Lord Bacon, in his Natural History, states that if
Basil is exposed too much to the sun, it changes into Wild Thyme,
S '
p f a n t I0O1*©, 1®©g©r^/, a ñ i. l^qi*!©/. 2 4 7
although the two herbs seem to have small affinity. Culpeper
quaintly remarks: “ Something is the matter; this herb and Rue
will never grow together—no, nor near one another ; and we know
the Rue is as great an enemy to poison as any that grows.”
Gerarde, however, tells us that the smell of Basil is good for the
heart and for the head. The plant is a paradox:—sacred and
revered, yet dedicated to the E v il One ; of happy augury, yet
funereal; dear to women and lovers, yet emblem of hatred; propagator
of scorpions, yet the antidote to their stings. Astrologers
rule that Basil is a herb of Mars, and under the Scorpion, and
therefore called Basilicon.
B A U H IN IA .—The leaves of the Bauhinia or Ebony-tree
are two-lobed, or twin—a character, which suggested to Plumier
the happy idea of naming the genus after the two famous brothers,
John and Caspar Bauhin, botanists of the sixteenth century.
B E A N S .—Among the ancients, there appears to have be*en a
superstitious aversion to Beans as an article of food, arising from
the resemblance of the fruit to a portion of the human body. The
Egyptians, among whom the Sacred Bean was an object of actual
worship, would not partake of it as food, probably on that account;
because by so doing they would be fearful of eating what they
considered was human, and of consuming a soul. B y some nations
the seed was consecrated to the gods. The eating of Beans was
interdicted to the Jewish High Priest on the Day of Atonement
from its decided tendency to bring on sleep. The goddess Ceres,
when bestowing her gifts upon mankind, expressly excluded Beans.
The unhappy Orpheus refused to eat them; Amphiaraus, the
diviner, in order to preserve a clear vision, always abstained from
them; the Flamines, Roman priests, instituted by Numa, would
neither touch nor mention them; and the Grecian philosopher
Pythagoras, who lived only on the purest and most innocuous food,
invariably declined to partake of Beans of any description, giving
as his reason that, in the Bean, he recognised blood, and consequently
an animal, which, as a vegetarian, he could not consume.
According to tradition, the great philosopher, being pursued by his
enemies, was overtaken and killed, solely because, having in his
flight reached a field of Beans, he would not cross it for fear of
trampling upon living beings, the souls of the dead, who had entered
temporarily, into the vegetable existence. Cicero considered that
the antipathy to Beans as an article of food arose from their being
considered impure, inasmuch as they corrupted the blood, distended
the stomach, and excited the passions. Hippocrates considered
them unwholesome and injurious to the eyesight. They
were also believed to cause bad dreams, and, moreover, if seen
in dreams, were deemed to portend evil. One of the Greek
words for Bean is Ruanos, and at the festival of Puanepsia, held
in the month of October, at Athens, in honour of Apollo, Beana