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“ The plant called risus is noxious, through causing those
who partake of it to die of excessive laughter. Apuleius says that
this is more particularly the case when the herb is taken by a
person who has not broken his fast. From the fact that the plant
was also known as Sardonia arose the expression “ sardoiric smile.”
People who taste it do not die at once from laughter, but, as
Salustius relates, rather from the contraction of the nerves of the
lips and the muscles of the mouth ; but they appear to die by
laughing.
“ In Bactria and around the Dnieper, a plant called Gelotophyllis
is said to grow, which, if it be drunk with wine and myrrh, produces
continuous laughter. A similar result is produced by Arum AEgyp-
tiacum, when eaten, and by the flowers or seed of the Datura.
“ Therionarca grows in Cappadocia and Mysia. All wild animals
which touch it become torpid, and can only regain animation by
being besprinkled with the water voided by hyaenas.”
C H A P T E R IX.
p F a a t/ o ? tfie ©y/it'cftej’,
E C A T E , the Grecian goddess of the infernal
regions j presided over magic and enchantment,
and may fairly be styled the goddess, queen, anc.
patroness of Witches and sorcerers. She was
acquainted with the properties of every herb,
and imparted this knowledge to her daughters
Medea and Circe.* To this trio of classical
Witches were specially consecrated the following
herbs:—The Mandrake, the Deadly Nightshade, the Common
Nightshade, the Wolf’s-bane, the Pontic Azalea, the Cyclamen,
the Cypress, Lavender, Plyssop-leaved Mint, the Poley or Mountain
Germander, the Ethiopian Pepper, the Corn Feverfew,
the Cardamom, the Musk Mallow, the Oriental Sesame, the
rough Smilax, the, Lion’s-foot Cudweed (a love philtre), and
Maidenhair, a plant particularly dear to Pluto. Medea was specially
cognisant of the qualities of the Meadow Saffron, Safflower, Dyer’s
Alkanet, the clammy Plantain or Fleawort, the Chiysanthemum,
and the brown-berried Juniper. All tliese plants are, therefore,
persistently sought for by Witches, who have not only the power of
understanding and appreciating the value of herbs, but know also
how to render harmless and innocuous plants baleful and deadly.
Thus we find that an Italian Witch, condemned in 1474, was
shown to have sown a certain noxious powder amidst the herbage
near her dwelling, and the unfortunate cows, stricken at first with
the E v il Eye, were at length attacked with a lingering but deadly
malady. So, again, in the ‘ Tempest,’ Shakspeare tells iis that in
the magic rings traced on the grass by the dance of the Elves, the
lerbage is imbued with a bitterness which is noisome to cattle.
These rings, which are often to be met with on the Sussex Downs,
are there called Hag-tracks, because they are thought to be caused
by hags and Witches who dance there at night.
It is recorded that, during the period of the Witch persecutions,
whoever fotmd himself unexpectedly under an Elder-tree
* Early Greek writers describe Circe as the daughter of Sol and Perseis, and
Medea as her niece.