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271
The Folk-lore of Plants
·
T. F. Thiselton-Dyer
182
As
shaking
is
one
of
the
chief
characteristics
of
that
tedious
and
obstinate
complaint
ague,
so
there
was
a
prevalent
notion
that
the
quaking-grass
(Briza
media),
when
dried
and
kept
in
the
house,
acted
as
a
most
powerful
deterrent.
For
the
same
reason,
the
aspen,
from
its
constant
trembling,
has
been
held
a
specific
for
this
disease.
The
lesser
celandine
(Ranunculus
ficaria)
is
known
in
many
country
places
as
the
pilewort,
because
its
peculiar
tuberous
root
was
long
thought
to
be
efficacious
as
a
remedial
agent.
And
Coles,
in
his
"Art
of
Simpling,"
speaks
of
the
purple
marsh-wort
(Comarum
palustre)
as
"an
excellent
remedy
against
the
purples."
The
common
tormentil
(Tormentilla
officinalis),
from
the
red
colour
of
its
root,
was
nicknamed
the
"blood-root,"
and
was
said
to
be
efficacious
in
dysentery;
while
the
bullock's-lungwort
derives
its
name
from
the
resemblance
of
its
leaf
to
a
dewlap,
and
was
on
this
account
held
as
a
remedy
for
the
pneumonia
of
bullocks.[25]
Such
is
the
curious
old
folk-lore
doctrine
of
signatures,
which
in
olden
times
was
regarded
with
so
much
favour,
and
for
a
very
long
time
was
recognised,
without
any
questioning,
as
worthy
of
men's
acceptation.
It
is
one
of
those
popular
delusions
which
scientific
research
has
scattered
to
the
winds,
having
in
its
place
discovered
the
true
medicinal
properties
of
plants,
by
the
aid
of
chemical
analysis.
Footnotes:
1.
Pettigrew's
"Medical
Superstitions,"
1844,
p.
18.
2.
Tylor's
"Researches
into
the
Early
History
of
Mankind,"
1865,
p.
123;
Chapiel's
"La
Doctrine
des
Signatures,"
Paris,
1866.
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