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Arrived at the Court, Batou, metamorphosed into the bull, is welcomed
and féted. Egypt has found a new god. During one of
the festivals he takes the opportunity of whispering into the ear
of her who had formerly been his wife: “ Behold, I am again
alive—I am Batou! You plotted and persuaded the king to fell
the Cedar, so that he might occupy my place at your side when I
was dead. Behold, I am again alive—I have taken the form of a
bull! ” The queen faints away at hearing these words; but speedily
recovering herself, she seeks the king and asks him to grant her a
favour—that of eating the bull’s liver. After some hesitation, the
king consents, and orders that a sacrifice shall be offered to the
bull, and that then he shall be killed; but at the moment the bull’s
throat is cut, two drops of blood spirt out: one falls to the ground,
and forthwith two grand Perseas (the Egyptians’ tree of life) shoot
forth. The king, accompanied by his wife, hastens to inspect the
new prodigy, and one of the trees whispers in the queen’s ear that
he is Batou, once more transformed. The queen, relying on the
doting affedtion which the king entertains for her, asks him to
have this tree cut down for the sake of the excellent timber it will
afford. The king consents, and she hastens to superintend the
execution of his orders. A chip struck from the tree whilst being
felled, falls into the mouth of the queen. Shortly she perceives
that she has become enceinte. In due course she gives birth to a
male infant. It is Batou, once more entering the world by a novel
incarnation! ”
C E L A N D IN E .—The Great or Major Celandine {Chelidonium
major) is also called Swallow-wort and Tetter-wort, and is thought
to be efficacious in the cure of warts and cutaneous disorders. It
derives its name from the Greek Chelidon, a swallow—not, says
Gerarde, “ because it first springeth at the coming in of the
swallowes, or dieth when they go away, for as we have saide, it
may be founde all the yeare, but because some holde opinion that
with this herbe the dams restore sight to their young ones, when
their eies be put out.” This magical property of the Celandine
was first propounded by Aristotle, and afterwards repeated by
Pliny, Dodoens, Albert le Grand, Macer, and most of the olc.
botanical writers. Coles fully believed the wonderful facfl, and
remarks: “ It is known to such as have skill of nature, what wonderful
care she hath of the smallest creatures, giving to them a
knowledge of medicine to help themselves, if haply diseases annoy
them. The swallow cureth her dim eyes with Celandine; the wesell
knoweth well the virtue of Herb Grace; the dove the Verven ; the
dogge dischargeth his mawe with a kinde of grasse,” &c. Lyte also,
in his ‘ Herbal,’ fully supported the ancient rustic belief that the
old swallows used Celandine to restore sight to their young. He
says the plant was called Swallow-herb, because “ it was the first
found out by swallowes, and hath healed the eyes and restored
sight to their young ones that have had harme in their eyes or have
been blinde.” Celandine has long been popular among village
simplers as a remedy when diluted with milk against thick spots in
the eye. It is said that the lack of medical knowledge among
the ancients induced the belief in the magical properties of Celandine.
They saw in the Chelidonium a Cceli donum, and hence were
anxious to endow it with celestial properties. The red and
violet Celandines, or Horned Poppies, are mentioned by Ben
Jonson among the plants Used by witches in their incantations.
The Lesser Celandine {Ranunculus Ficaria) is perhaps better
known as the Pile-wort, a name given to it in allusion to the small
tubers on the roots, which, on the dodtrine of plant signatures,
indicated that the plant was a remedial agent in this complaint.
Astrologers assign Celandine to the Sun, and the Pile-wort to
Mars.
C E N T A U R Y .—This flower, the well known Blue-bottle o f
the cornfields, is fabled to have derived its name from Chiron, a
centaur, who is stated to have taught mankind the use of plants
and medicinal herbs. According to Pliny, Chiron cured himself with
this plant from a wound he had accidentally received from an arrow
poisoned with the blood of the hydra. M. Barthélémy writes how„
when Anacharsis visited the cave of Chiron, the centaur, on Mount
Pelion, he was shown a plant which grew near it, of which he was.
informed that the leaves were good for the eyes, but that the secret
of preparing them was in the hands of only one family, to whom it
had been lineally transmitted from Chiron himself. Mythology
has another origin for the Centaurea Cyanus. According to this,
account, the flower was called Cyanus, after a youth so named, who^
was so enamoured of Corn-flowers, that his favourite occupation was.
that of making garlands of them; and he would scarcely ever leave
the fields, whilst his favourite blue flowers continued to bloom..
So devoted was his admiration, that he always dressed himself in
clothes of the same brilliant hue as the flower he loved best. Flora
was his goddess, and of all the varied gifts, her Corn-flower was
the one he most appreciated. At length he was one day found
lying dead in a cornfield, surrounded with the blue Corn-flowers he.
had gathered: and soon after the catastrophe, the goddess Flora,
out of gratitude for the veneration he had for her divinity, transformed
his body into the Centaurea Cyanus, the Blue-bottle of English;
cornfields. In Lucan’s ‘ Pharsalia,’ the Centaury is one of the
plants named as being burned with the objedl of driving away
serpents.
“ Beyond the farthest tents rich fires they build,
That healthy medicinal odours yield :
There foreign Galbanum dissolving fries,
And crackling flames from humble Wallwort rise ;
There Tamarisk, which no green leaf adorns,
And there the spicy Syrian Costos burns :
There Centaury supplies the wholesome flame,
That from Thessalian Chiron takes its name :
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