fashioned charm for the bite of an adder was to place a cross formed of
hazel-wood on the wound, and the burning of a thorn-bush has long
been considered a sure preventive of mildew in wheat. Without
multiplying further illustrations, there can be no doubt that the
therapeutic virtues of these so-called lightning plants may be traced to,
in very many cases, their mythical origin. It is not surprising too that
plants of this stamp should have been extensively used as charms
against the influences of occult powers, their symbolical nature investing
them with a potency such as was possessed by no ordinary plant.
____________________
Footnotes:
- See an article on "Myths of the Fire Stealer," Saturday Review, June 2, 1883, p.
689; Tylor's "Primitive Culture." 2. "Myths and Myth Makers," p. 55. 3. See Keary's
"Outlines of Primitive Belief," 1882, p. 98. 4. "Indo-European Tradition and Folk-
lore," p. 159. 5. "Mystic Trees and Shrubs," Fraser's Magazine, Nov. 1870, p. 599. 6.
"Sacred Trees and Flowers," Quarterly Review, July 1863, pp. 231, 232. 7. "Myths and
Myth Makers," p. 55. 8. See "Flower Lore," pp. 38, 39. 9. Kelly's "Indo-European Folk-
lore," p. 179. 10. "Natural History and Antiquities of Surrey," ii. 34. 11. Kelly's "Indo-
European Folk-lore," p. 176; Grimm's "Teutonic Mythology," 1884, chap, xxxii.;
Gubernatis' "Zoological Mythology," ii. 266-7. See Albertus Magnus, "De Mirab.
Mundi," 1601, p. 225. 12. Gubernatis' "Zoological Mythology," ii. 230. 13. "Myths and
Mythmakers," p. 58. See Baring-Gould's "Curious Myths of the Middle Ages," 1877,
pp. 386-416. 14. Folkard's "Plant-lore Legends and Lyrics," p. 460. 15. See Kelly's
"Indo-European Folk-lore," pp. 47-48.
