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271
The Folk-lore of Plants
·
T. F. Thiselton-Dyer
244
Some
trees
and
plants
have
gained
a
medical
notoriety
from
the
fact
of
their
having
a
mystical
history,
and
from
the
supernatural
qualities
ascribed
to
them.
But,
as
Bulwer-Lytton
has
suggested
in
his
"Strange
Story,"
the
wood
of
certain
trees
to
which
magical
properties
are
ascribed
may
in
truth
possess
virtues
little
understood,
and
deserving
of
careful
investigation.
Thus,
among
these,
the
rowan
would
take
its
place,
as
would
the
common
hazel,
from
which
the
miner's
divining-rod
is
always
cut.
[9]
An
old-fashioned
charm
to
cure
the
bite
of
an
adder
was
to
lay
a
cross
formed
of
two
pieces
of
hazel-wood
on
the
ground,
repeating
three
times
this
formula
[10]:--
"Underneath
this
hazelin
mote,
There's
a
braggotty
worm
with
a
speckled
throat,
Nine
double
is
he;
Now
from
nine
double
to
eight
double
And
from
eight
double
to
seven
double-ell."
The
mystical
history
of
the
apple
accounts
for
its
popularity
as
a
medical
agent,
although,
of
course,
we
must
not
attribute
all
the
lingering
rustic
cures
to
this
source.
Thus,
according
to
an
old
Devonshire
rhyme,
"Eat
an
apple
going
to
bed,
Make
the
doctor
beg
his
bread."
Its
juice
has
long
been
deemed
potent
against
warts,
and
a
Lincolnshire
cure
for
eyes
affected
by
rheumatism
or
weakness
is
a
poultice
made
of
rotten
apples.
The
oak,
long
famous
for
its
supernatural
strength
and
power,
has
been
much
employed
in
folk-medicine.
A
German
cure
for
ague
is
to
walk
round
an
oak
and
say:--
"Good
evening,
thou
good
one
old;
I
bring
thee
the
warm
and
the
cold."
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