when both are placed in water the black one will sink, this is called
'Satan's hand;' but the white one, called 'Mary's hand,' will float."[9]
Hence this flower is held in deep and superstitious veneration among
the peasantry; and in Crete the basil is considered an emblem of the
devil, and is placed on most window-ledges, no doubt as a charm.
Some plants, again, have been used for exorcism from their reputed
antagonism to all Satanic influence. Thus the avens or herb-bennett,
when kept in a house, was believed to render the devil powerless, and
the Greeks of old were in the habit of placing a laurel bough over their
doorways to keep away evil spirits. The thistle has been long in demand
for counteracting the powers of darkness, and in Esthonia it is placed on
the ripening corn to drive and scare away malignant demons. In Poland,
the disease known among the poorer classes as "elf-lock" is supposed to
be the work of wicked spirits, but tradition says it will gradually
disappear if one buries thistle seed.[10] The aloe, by the Egyptians, is
reputed to resist any baleful influence, and the lunary or "honesty" is by
our own country people said to put every evil influence to flight. In
Germany the juniper disperses evil spirits, and in ancient times the black
hellebore, peony, and mugwort were largely used for this purpose.
According to a Russian belief the elder-tree drives away evil spirits, and
hence this plant is held in high respect. Among further plants possessing
the same quality are the nettle and milfoil, and then there is the famous
St. John's wort, popularly nicknamed "devil's flight."
Closely allied with this part of our subject are those plants connected
with serpents, here forming a very numerous class. Indeed, it was only
natural that our ancestors, from their dread of the serpent on account of
its poisonous sting, as well as from their antipathy to it as the symbol of
evil, should ascertain those plants which seemed either attractive, or
antagonistic, to this much-dreaded reptile. Accordingly certain plants,
from being supposed to be distasteful to serpents, were much used as
amulets to drive them away. Foremost among these may be mentioned
the ash, to escape contact with which a serpent, it has been said, would
even creep into the fire, in allusion to which Cowley thus writes:
"But that which gave more wonder than the rest, Within an ash a
serpent built her nest And laid her eggs, when once to come beneath
The very shadow of an ash was death."
Gerarde notices this curious belief, and tells us that, "the leaves of this
tree are so great virtue against serpents that they dare not so much as
touch the morning and evening shadows of the tree, but shun them afar
off."
Hence ash-sap was a German remedy for serpent bites. Lucan, in his
"Pharsalia" (915-921), has enumerated some of the plants burned for the
purpose of expelling serpents:
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