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are alluded to by Virgil in his ZEneid, as well as by Ovid and other
ancient writers. Albertus Magnus states that the Mistletoe, which
the Chaldaeans called Lupemx, the Greeks Esifena, and the Latins
Viscus Quera, like the herb Martagón (Moonwort), possessed the property
of opening all locks. The Druids called it All-heal, and
represented it as an antidote to all poisons, and a cure for all diseases.
When there were no longer any Druids in England left to gather
the holy plant with the customary sacred rites, it was gathered by
the people themselves, with a lack of due solemnity, so that,
according to Aubrey, this want of reverence met with miraculous
punishment. He relates how some ill-advised folk cut the Mistletoe
from an Oak, at Norwood, to sell to the London apothecaries:
“ And one fell lame shortly after; soon after each of the others
lost an eye; and a rash fellow, who ventured to fell the Oak
itself, broke his leg very shortly afterwards.” At this time, the
powder of an Oak-Mistletoe was deemed an infallible cure for
epilepsy; and Culpeper, the astrological herbalist, prescribed
the leaves and berries of this, precious plant, given in powder
for forty days together, as a sure panacea for apoplexy, palsy,
and falling sickness. Clusius affirmed that a sprig of the sacred
plant worn round the neck was a talisman against witchcraft,
always providing that the bough had not been allowed to touch
earth after being gathered. In the West of England, there is
a tradition that the Cross was made of Mistletoe, which, until
the time of the Crucifixion, had been a noble forest tree, but was
thenceforth condemned to exist only as a mere parasite. Culpeper
remarks that it was sometimes called lignum sancte crucis—wood of
the holy cross—from a belief in its curative virtues in cases of
consumption, apoplexy, and palsy—“ not only to be inwardly taken,
but to be hung at their neck.” In Sweden, Cak-Mistletoe is suspended
in the house to protecif it from fire and other injuries; a
knife with an Cak-Mistletoe handle is supposed by the Swedes to
ward off the falling sickness: for other complaints, a piece of this
plant is hung round the patient’s neck, or made into a finger-ring.
M O L Y .—The Moly was a magical plant, beneficent in its
nature, which Homer tells us, in the ‘ Cdyssey,’ was given by Mercury
to Ulysses to enable him successfully to withstand and overcome
the enchantments of the sorceress Circe, and obtain the restoration
of his comrades whom the witch-goddess had by her enchantments
transformed into swine. Ulysses, distressed at the fate of his companions,
was visited by Mercury, who promised to give him a plant
of extraordinary powers, which should baffle the spells of Circe ;
“ Thus while he spoke, the sovereign plant he drew
Where on th’ all-bearing earth unmark’d it grew,
And show’d its nature and its wondrous power:
Black was the root, but milky white the flower;
Moly the name, to mortals hard to find,
But all is easy to th’ ethereal kind.”—FoJ>e.
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p F a n t Tqoi*©, l9e g e ”t^ / , a n il 443
The Moly is generally supposed to have been a species of Garlick
(a plant credited with many magical qualities), and Gerarde, in
his ‘ Herbal,’ describes several plants under the head of “ Moly, or
.Sorcerer’s Garlick,” one of which he particularises as Homer’s
Moly (Moly Homericum). The identity of the plant has, however,
long been a matter for speculation among botanists of all ages.
Dodonaeus, Anguillara, and Caesalpinus consider it to be Allium
magiam; Matthiolus and Clusius, Allium suhhirsutum; Sprengel,
Allium nigrum ; and Sibthorp, a plant which he names Allium Dios-
coridis. Various treatises have appeared on the subjeiil, in one of
which the Moly is thought to be identified with the Lotus. Milton,
in his ‘ Comus,’ mentions a magical plant, designated Haemony,
which possessed similar properties to the Moly, and was potent in
dispelling enchantments, ghostly apparations, mildew-blast, and
unwholesome vapours.
M o n ey F l ow e r .—See Honesty.
M O N K ’ S HOOD.— has two English names, Monk’s
Hood and Wolfs Bane. The former has been given it from the
resemblance of the plant’s upper sepal to the cowl of a monk. The
latter is of great antiquity, being the same as that of the Anglo-
Saxon. B y the ancients (who were unacquainted with mineral
poisons) the Aconite was regarded as the most virulent of all
poisons, and their mythologists declare it to be the invention of
Hecate, who caused the plant to spring from the foam of the
many-headed Cerberus, when Hercules dragged hiip from the
gloomy regions of Pluto. The legend is thus told by Ovid:—
“ Medea, to dispatch a dang'rous heir,
(She knew him) did a pois’nous draught prepare,
Drawn from a drug, long while reserved in store,
For desp’rate uses, from the Scythian" shore.
That from the Echydnsean monster’s jaws
Derived its origin, and this the cause.
Through a dark cave a craggy passage lies
To ours ascending from the nether skies,
Through which, by strength of hand, Alcides drew
Chained Cerberus, who lagged and restive grew,
With his bleared eyes our brighter day to view.
Thrice he repeated his enormous yell,
With which he scares the ghosts, and startles h e ll;
At last outrageous (though compelled to yield),
He sheds his foam in fury on. the field ;
Which, with its own and rankness of the ground,
Produced a weed by sorcerers renowned
The strongest constitution to confound—
Called Aconite, because it can unlock
All bars, and force its passage through a rock.”
With this venomous plant the ancients were wont to poison their
arrow-heads when engaged in war and also when in pursuit of
wild beasts. As a poison, it had a sinister reputation. Ovid was
of opinion that the Aconitum derived its name from growing on
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