1
bowed down its branches to shade and refresh His mother. Sozo-
menos relates that, when the Holy Family reached the end of their
journey, and approached the city of Heliopolis, in Egypt, a tree
which grew before the gates of the city, and was regarded with
great veneration as the seat of a god, bowed down its branches at
the approach of the infant Christ. ^Judaea was typified by the
Date Palm upon the coins of Vespasian and Titus. With the Jews,
the Date Palm has always been the symbol of triumph, and they
carry branches of it in their right hands, in their synagogues, at the
Feast of the Tabernacles, in commemoration of their forefathers
having gained possession of the Promised Land. In the Christian
Church, the remembrance of the Saviour’s ride into Jerusalem amid
the hosannas of the people, is associated with the waving of the
branches of the Date Palm by the joyous multitude. An ardent
spirit, distilled from Dates and water, is much used by Mahommedans,
as it does not come within the prohibition of the Koran
against wine. Palm wine is also made from the D a te ; it is the sap
or juice of the tree, and can only be obtained by its destrucition.
A curious folk-lore tale of the Chinese records how Wang Chih,
a patriarch of the Taouist secit, when one day gathering fire-wood
in the mountains of Ku Chow, entered a grotto where some old men
were playing at chess. One of the old men handed him a Date-
stone, telling him to put it into his mouth. This done, he ceased
to feel hunger or thirst. By-and-bye, one of the players said : “ It
is long since you came here—return at once.” Wang Chih went
to take up his axe, and found the handle had mouldered into dust.
He went home, but found that centuries had elapsed since the
day he set out to cut wood: thereupon he retired to a mountain
cell, and devoting himself to religious exercises, finally attainec
immortality.
D E A D T O N G U E .—The Water Hemlock {CEnanfhe crocata)
has received the name of Dead Tongue from its paralysing effecits.
on the organs of voice. Threlkeld tells of eight lads who had
eaten it, and of whom “ five died before morning, not one of them
having spoken a word.” Gerarde relates, that this plant having
by mistake been eaten in a salad, “ it did well nigh poyson those
that ate of it, making them giddie in their heads, waxing very pale,
staggering, and reeling like drunken men.” The plant is described
as “ one of Saturn’s nosegays.”
D e a d l y N i g h t s h a d e , or D e a t h ’ s H e r b .— See Nightshade.
D EO D A R .—The sacred Indian Cedar {Cedrus Deodara) forms
vast forests in the mountains of Northern India, where it grows to
a height varying from fifty to a hundred feet and upwards. It is
the Devaddru, or tree-gocj of the Shastras, which, in many of the
ancient hymns of the Hindus, is the symbol of power and majesty.
The tree is often mentioned by the Indian poets. It was
introduced into this country in 1822.
D H A K . ■The Dhak, or Bastard Teak {Butea frondosa), is one
of the sacred trees of India, and one of the most striking of the
Indian axhoxeonsLeguminose. Both its wood and leaves are highly
reverenced, and used in religious ceremonies. The natives, also,
are fond of offering the beautiful scarlet flowers in their temples]
and the females intertwine the blossoms in their hair. The
flowers yield a superb dye.
D I L L .—The aromatic plant Dill {Anethum graveolens) is by
some supposed to have derived its name from the old Norse word
dilla, dull; the seeds being used as a carminative to cause infants to
sleep. Boiled in wine, and drunk, the plant was reputed to excite
the passions. Dill was formerly highly appreciated as a plant that
counteracted the powers of witches and sorcerers:—
“ The Vervain and the Dill,
That hindereth witches of their will.”
Astrologers assign Dill to the domination of Mercury.
D IT T A N Y .—The ancients consecrated the Dittany of Crete
{Origanum Dictamnus) to the goddess Lucina, who presided over the
birth of children ; and she was often represented wearing a crown
of this Dittany. The root was particularly recommended by the
oracle of Phthas. The Grecian and Roman women attributed to
this plant the most extraordinary properties during childbirth,
which it was believeci greatly to facilitate. It is reported, says
Gerarde, “ that the wilde goats or deere in Candy, when they be
wounded with arrowes, do shake them out by eating of this plant,
and heal their wounds.” According to Virgil, Venus healed the
wounded Æneas with Dittany. Plutarch says that the women of
Crete, seeing how the goats, by eating Dittany, cause the arrows to
fall from their wounds, learnt to make use of the plant to aid them
in childbirth. Gerarde recounts that the plant is most useful in
drawing forth splinters of wood, bones, See., and in the healing of
wounds, “ especially those made with invenomed weapons, arrowes
shot out of guns, or such like.” The juice, he says, is so powerful,
that by its mere smell it “ drives away venomous beasts, and doth
astonish them.” When mixed with wine, the juice was also considered
a remedy for the bites of serpents. According to Apuleius,
however, the plant possessed the property of killing serpents.
The Dittany of Crete, it should be noted, is not to be confounded
with the Dittany, Dittander, or Pepper-wort of the English
Herbáis. This plant, the Lepidium latifolium, from its being used by
thrifty housewives to season dishes with, obtained the name of
Poor Man’s Pepper. It was held to be under Mars.
DO C K ,—In Cornwall, as a charm, the leaves of the common
Dock, wetted with spring water, are applied to burns, and three
angels are invoked to come out of the East. It is a common practice,
in many parts of England, for anyone suffering from the stings