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posed of Betonica. Antonius Musa, physician to Augustus, wrote
a treatise on the excellencies of Betonica, which he affirmed would
cure forty-seven different ailments. Franzius went so far as to
assert that the wild beasts of the forest, aware of its surpassing
Virtues, availed themselves of its efficacy when they were wounded.
At a time when a belief in witchcraft was rife in England, it
was generally understood that the house where Herha Betonica was
sown, was free from all mischief. In Yorkshire, the Water Betony
was formerly called Bishop’s Leaves. In Italy, at the present day,
there are several proverbs relating to the virtues of Betony, one of
which is, “ May you have more virtues than Betony; ” and another,
“ Known as well as Betony.”
B IG N O N IA .—One of the native names of the Bignonia
Indica, or Indian Trumpet-flower, is Kamaduti, or the Messenger of
Love. Under the name of Patata, the Bignonia suaveolens is specially
consecrated by the Indians to the god Brahma. The name of
Patala, however, is given in the Sanscrit to Durgá, the wife of
Siva, probably on account of the colour of her idols, which assimilate
to the colour of the flowers of the Bignonia.
B I L B E R R Y .—The origin of the Bilberry or Whortleberry
{Vaccinium Myvtillus), according to the mythology of the ancients, is
as follows (Enomaüs, father of the lovely Hippodamia, chose for
his attendant the young Myrtillus, son of Mercury. Proud of his
skill, he stipulated that all his daughter’s suitors should compete
for the prize in a chariot race with him. Pelops, who was eager
to obtain the beautiful Hippodamia, promised Myrtillus a large
reward if he would take out the linch-pin of his master’s chariot.
Myrtillus was not proof againt the offer: in consequence, the
chariot was overturned, and CEnomaüs mortally injured; but as he
expired, he implored Pelops to avenge him, which he did by throwing
the treacherous attendant into the sea. The waters having
borne back his body to the shore. Mercury changed it to the shrub
called after his name, Myrtillus, a name formerly given to the plant
producing the Myrtle-berry, a fruit largely imported in the middle
ages, and used in medicine and cookery—of the same genus as the
English Bilberry, which is often found growing on the sea-shore.
The Scotch name of this shrub is Blaeberry, the praises of which
are often sung in Northern ballads.
“ Will ye go, lassie, go to the braes of Balquhidder,
Whare the Blaeberries grow ’mong the bonny blooming Heather?”
Bilberries are held by the astrologers to be under Jupiter. (See
also W h o r t l e b e r r y .)
B IR C H .—According to Scandinavian mythology, the Birch
{Betula alba) was consecrated to the god Thor, and symbolised the
return of Spring. The Greeks and Romans had not much knowledge
of the tree, but the latter seem to have regarded it with a
feeling of dread in consequence of the fasces of the magistracy being
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composed of it, as now, says Evelyn, “ are the gentler rods of our
tyrannical pedagogues for lighter faults.” According to Pliny, the
celebrated books which Numa Pompilius composed seven hundred
years before Christ, and which were buried with him, were written
on the bark of the Birch-tree. It is in the northern countries of
Europe that the Birch flourishes, and it is there the tree is held in
the highest esteem. The Russians have a proverb that the Birch
excels in four qualities :—It gives light to the world (with Birch-
boughs torches are made) ; it stifles cries (from Birch they extracil
a lubricant which they apply to the wheels of carriages) ; it cleanses
(in Russian baths, to promote perspiration, they scourge the body
with branches of Birch) ; it cures diseases (by incision they obtain
a liquor stated to have all the virtues of the spirit of salt, and from
which a wine is distilled, excellent as a cordial and useful in cases
of consumption. Moreover, in Russia, the oil of the Birch is used
as a vermifuge and a balsam in the cure of wounds. In fadt, to
the peasants of the North, the Birch is as beneficent as is the
Palm to the Indians. No wonder, then, that the Russians are very
fond of the Birch, and surround their dwellings with it ; believing,
as they do, that this tree is never struck by lightning. On the
Day of Pentecost, it is a custom among young Russian maidens to
suspend garlands on the trees they love best, and they are careful
to tie round the stems of the Birch-trees a little red ribbon as a
charm to cause them to flourish and to protea them from the
E v il Eye. De Gubernatis quotes from a Russian author named
Afanassief, who tells us of a Birch that showed its appreciation
of the kindly attentions of a young girl in decking its stem, by
proteaing her from the persecutions of a witch, who had become
her step-mother ; and the same author makes mention of a certain
white Birch, which grew in the island of Buian, on the topmost
of whose branches it was currently believed the Mother of God
might be seen sitting. Grohmann, a German writer, recounts
the legend of a young shepherdess, who was spinning in the midst
of a forest of Birch-trees, when suddenly the Wild Woman of the
forest accosted her. The Wild Woman was dressed in white, and
had a garland of flowers upon her head : she persuaded the shepherdess
to dance with her, and for three days kept up the dance
until sunset, but so lightly that the grass under her feet was neither
trampled upon nor bent. At the conclusion of the dance, all the
yarn was spun, and the Wild Woman was so satisfied, that
she filled the pocket of the little shepherdess with Birch-leaves,
which soon turned into golden money. Professor Mannhardt,
says De Gubernatis, divulges to us the means employed by the
Russian peasants to evoke the Lieschi, or Geni of the forest. They
cut down some very young Birch-trees, and arrange them in a circle
in such a manner that the points shall be turned towards the
middle : they enter this circle, and then they call up the spirit, who
forthwith makes his appearance. They place him on the stump of
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