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271
The Folk-lore of Plants
·
T. F. Thiselton-Dyer
173
John
Ray,
in
his
treatise
on
"The
Wisdom
of
God
in
Creation,"
was
among
the
first
to
express
his
disbelief
of
this
idea,
and
writes:--"As
for
the
signatures
of
plants,
or
the
notes
impressed
upon
them
as
notices
of
their
virtues,
some
lay
great
stress
upon
them,
accounting
them
strong
arguments
to
prove
that
some
understanding
principle
is
the
highest
original
of
the
work
of
Nature,
as
indeed
they
were
could
it
be
certainly
made
to
appear
that
there
were
such
marks
designedly
set
upon
them,
because
all
that
I
find
mentioned
by
authors
seem
to
be
rather
fancied
by
men
than
designed
by
Nature
to
signify,
or
point
out,
any
such
virtues,
or
qualities,
as
they
would
make
us
believe."
His
views,
however,
are
somewhat
contradictory,
inasmuch
as
he
goes
on
to
say
that,
"the
noxious
and
malignant
plants
do,
many
of
them,
discover
something
of
their
nature
by
the
sad
and
melancholick
visage
of
their
leaves,
flowers,
or
fruit.
And
that
I
may
not
leave
that
head
wholly
untouched,
one
observation
I
shall
add
relating
to
the
virtues
of
plants,
in
which
I
think
there
is
something
of
truth--that
is,
that
there
are
of
the
wise
dispensation
of
Providence
such
species
of
plants
produced
in
every
country
as
are
made
proper
and
convenient
for
the
meat
and
medicine
of
the
men
and
animals
that
are
bred
and
inhabit
therein."
Indeed,
however
much
many
of
the
botanists
of
bygone
centuries
might
try
to
discredit
this
popular
delusion,
they
do
not
seem
to
have
been
wholly
free
from
its
influence
themselves.
Some
estimate,
also,
of
the
prominence
which
the
doctrine
of
signatures
obtained
may
be
gathered
from
the
frequent
allusions
to
it
in
the
literature
of
the
period.
Thus,
to
take
one
illustration,
the
euphrasia
or
eye-bright
(Euphrasia
officinalis),
which
was,
and
is,
supposed
to
be
good
for
the
eye,
owing
to
a
black
pupil-like
spot
in
its
corolla,
is
noticed
by
Milton,
who,
it
may
be
remembered,
represents
the
archangel
as
clearing
the
vision
of
our
first
parents
by
its
means:--
Marker
Marker
Fine marker
White-out
Fine white-out
Circle
Paint
Unmarker
Hand
Scalpel
Dice
Sieve
Purify
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Redo
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