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its malaria, and caused the birds of the air that flew over it to
drop lifelessly down. Leagues away, its noxious emanations, borne
by the winds, proved fatal. When a Javanese was condemned to
death, as a last chance, his pardon was offered to him if he would
consent to go into the Valley of Death, and gather, by means of
a long Bamboo-rod, some drops of the poison of the Upas.
Hundreds of unhappy creatures are said to have submitted to this
trial, and to have miserably perished.
V A L ER IA N .—The ancient name of this plant, according
to Dioscorides, was Phu, and in botanical phraseology Garden
Valerian is still Valeriana Phu. The Latins called the plant
Valeriana, some say from its medicinal value, others from one
Valerius, who is reputed first to have used the herb in medicine;
but the derivation is really uncertain. The old English name of
the plant was Setewale, Setwal, or Set-wall. Chaucer writes:—
“ Ther springen herbes grete and smale,
The Licoris and the Setewale.”
And, speaking of the Clerk of Oxenforde, he says;—
“ And he himself was swete as is the rote
Of Licoris, or any Setewale.”
Gerarde tells us that the plant was known in his day by the name
of Valerian, Capon s Tail, and Setwall, but that the last name
really belonged to the Zedoaria, which is not Valerian. The old
herbalist also records that the medicinal virtues of Valerian were,
among the poorer classes in the North, held in such veneration,
“ that no broths, pottage, or physical meats are worth anything if
Setwall were not at an end; whereupon some woman poet or other
hath made these verses :—
‘ They that will have their heale
Must put Setwall in their keale.’ ”
Cats are so fond of the perfume of Valerian, that they are said to
dig up the roots, rolling on them with ecstatic delight, and gnawing
them to pieces. The acflion of the Valerian-root (which the herbalists
found out was very like a cat’s eye) on the nervous system
of some cats undoubtedly produces in time a kind of pleasant intoxication.
Rats are also attraiited by the odour of this plant.
Astrologers say that Valerian is under the rule of Mercury.
V e n u s ’ P l a n t s .— See L ad y ’s Plants.
V e r o n i c a .— See Speedwell.
V E R V A IN .—The Vervain, or Verbena, has from time immemorial
been the symbol of enchantment, and the most ancient
nations employed this plant in their divinations, sacrificial and
other rites, and in incantations. It bore the names of the Tears
of Isis, Tears of Juno, Mercury’s Blood, Persephonion, Demetria,
and Cerealis. The Magi of the ancient Elamites or Persians made
great use of the Vervain in the worship of the Sun, always carrying
p ia r r t b o r e , b e g e l^ / , a n i. bLjric/, 573
branches of it in their hands when they approached the altar. The
magicians also employed the mystic herb in their pretended
divinations, and affirmed that, by smearing the body over with the
juice of this plant, the person would obtain whatever he set his
heart upon, and be able to reconcile the most inveterate enemies,
make friends with whom he pleased, and gain the afledfions, and
cure the disease of whom he listed. When they cut Vervain, it
was always at a time when both sun and moon were invisible,
and they poured honey and honeycomb on the earth, as an atonement
for robbing it of so precious a herb. The Greeks called it
the Sacred Herb, and it was with this plant only that they cleansed
the festival-table of Jupiter before any great solemnity took place;
and hence, according to Pliny, the name of Verbena is derived.
It was, also, one of the plants which was dedicated to Venus.
Venus Victrix wore a crown of Myrtle interwoven with Vervain.
With the Romans, the Vervain was a plant of good omen,
and considered stricflly sacred:
(( Bring your garlands, and with reverence place
The Vervain on the altar.”
They employed it in their religious rites, swept their temples and
cleansed their altars with it, and sprinkled_ holy water with its
branches. They also purified their houses with it, to keep off evil
spirits ; and in order to make themselves invulnerable, they carried
about their persons a blade of Grass and some Vervain. Their
ambassadors, or heralds-at-arms, wore crowns of Vervain when
they went to offer terms of reconciliation, or to give defiance to
their enemies, a custom thus noticed by Drayton:—
“ A wreath of Vervain heralds wear,
Amongst our garlands named ;
Being sent that dreadful news to bear,
Offensive war proclaimed.”
Virgil mentions Vervain as one of the charms used by an enchantress;—
“ Bring running water, bind those altars round
With fillets, and with Vervain strew the ground.”
The Druids, both in Gaul and in Britain, regarded the Vervain
with the same veneration as the Hindus do the Kusa or Tulasi, and,
like the Magi of the East, they offered sacrifices to the earth before
they cut this plant. This ceremony took place in Spring, at about
the rising of the Great Dog Star, but so that neither sun nor moon
would be at that time above the earth to see the sacred herb cut.
It was to be dug up with an iron instrument, and to be waved
aloft in the air, the left hand only being used. It was al^o ordained
by the Druidical priests,for those who collected it, “ that before they
take up the herb, they bestow upon the ground where it groweth
honey with the combs, in token of satisfaétion and amends for the
wrong and violence done in depriving her of so holy a herb. The
leaves, stalks, and flowers were dried separately in the shade, and
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