The even mead, that erst brought sweetly forth But hateful docks, rough thistles, kecksies, burs, Losing both beauty and utility."-K. Henry V., act v. sc. 2. This word kecksies is evidently the Welsh Cegyd, and the Latin Cicuta. It was the root of hemlock which was used as an ingredient in the poisonous cauldron of the Witches in Macbeth. "The root of hemlock digg'd in the dark.”—Act iv. sc. 1. As the Conium maculatum is likely to be meant in this place, I think the Æthusa should be called by Withering's name of lesser hemlock. The etymology of the word hemlock is obscure. I consider that the word is derived from its ill smell, and consists of the aspirate H prefixed to the radix, which in Greek is Moly, from ovvw, to moil, or defile. Hence it is properly applicable to the Allium Moly, and the Ligusticum Pelopponense, which latter I suppose to have been the Concion of the Greeks. Fumiter, or Fumitory. This double orthography of our poet illustrates the etymology of this word. It takes its name of Fumus terræ from its almost aerial lightsomeness and glaucous colour. Thistle. The word thistle seems to belong to the Dipsacus, called in English Teasle, and in Latin Carduus, from its having the shape of a heart. Wool is carded and teased by means of the Dipsacus fullonum. I suppose it takes the name of Dipsacus from its thirsty nature; for in all weathers it holds between its leaves an abundance of water. Harlock, Charlock, Scharlock, and Scarlet, seem to be the same word with garlick, and perhaps carrot, and originally applicable to the Sinapis arvensis, or the Allium moly, or some other plant of a more orange colour. In this neighbourhood, the name of Carlock cups is given to the Ranunculi, and perhaps the Caltha; and, after all, the Calendula may be the true plant from whence the name of scarlet is derived. Nettles, I have no doubt, receive their name from their use as a substitute for hemp in the construction of nets, and therefore the word applies to Urtica, although in this place it may be supposed as equally applicable to Lamium, or the dead nettle. Cuckoo-flowers. This name is applied to three genera, Cardamine, Lychnis, and Orchis. On asking a poor woman for the name of the Lychnis diocia alba, she said it was called Ladies' attire: "And lady-smocks, all silver white, And cuckoo-buds of yellow hue."-Love's Labour Lost, act v. sc. 2. a name certainly preferable to that of our poet for the Cardamine pratensis, to which he evidently applies it. The orchis here is called Ganderglasses and Gandergaws, but in Essex Cuckoo-flower. The woodseer, called in the New Forest Cuckoo-spit, and which, as I was informed in Sweden, the peasants there consider as the cause of madness in cattle, abounds upon the Lychnis and the Cardamine, and seems to indicate why they should bear the name of Cuckoo-flowers. Linnæus gives to the Ragged Robin the name of Flos cuculi, which I consider to be less entitled to it than the dioica; for I believe the latter to be Shakspeare's plant. The flowers of the Cardamine are considered to be antispasmodic; but, in the New Forest, the Genista anglica is administered to children for those convulsions that accompany dentition. The cuckoo-buds of the above passage must be the Caltha palustris, and may possibly be our author's cuckoo-flowers. Darnel is said to be a poison which destroys the sight: its quality is narcotic, and its name I suppose to be from the same radix as the Greek dapavw, dormio. The word ray, or in French juray, seems to be the Greek apa, and to mean poison, as as æris in Latin, whence arugo. ""Twas full of darnel, do you like the taste?"-1st Part K. H. VI. act iii. sc. 2. Burnet, in Latin sanguisorba, so called from its use being chiefly confined to young females, appears to me to be equivalent to the Greek word parthenium, a name generally applied to another plant used as an emmenagogue. Cowslips. The soporific principle of these flowers may perhaps reside in their freckles. The poet has pointed to it, in his Midsummer Night's Dream, with peculiar beauty and elegance: "The cowslips tall her pensioners be, In their gold coats spots you see; In those freckles live their savours. I must go seek some dewdrops here, And hang a pearl in every cowslip's ear."-Act ii. sc. 1. The agreeable odour of these flowers would indicate that the virtue, if extracted by the chemist, might combine the advantages of opium with those of saffron; and the profusion in which the plant is found renders it very deserving the attention of the physician. Clover. This, I imagine, derives its name from its leaf 413. No. 85, New Series. D being cloven: it would then have the same meaning as clubs at cards. Docks. This herb may take its name from its penetrating into the ground. A dog may also be supposed to be named from the propensity of the terrier to dig into the earth. The genus Rumex, particularly the species Hydrolapathum, or Aquaticus, presents us with an excellent astringent. Its affinity to the rhubarb, and the use made of the species R. acutus, would entitle it to rank high in the materia medica. The Britannica of the ancients was our common water-dock, and I am not aware that we possess a more powerful or more eligible native astringent than this plant. Burs. Woodville, in his Medical Botany, figures the Arctium lappa, which prefers a drier situation than the A. Bardana; the latter must therefore be considered the plant of Shakspeare. The name is doubtless of the same meaning as briar, and seems to imply that it is borne away by the passing traveller, to whose clothes the flowers or the stems strongly adhere. Darnel. I might have remarked, under Darnel, that the Myrica gale seems to possess a similar intoxicating property, and is used sparingly for that purpose in Norway, in their drink. Being driven, by stress of weather, into Humbroe Sound, near Lillasand, I entered the house of the pilot, who had a great bunch hung up in his room. He spoke English, and, in answer to a question of mine, he informed me of its use there, and that its English name was porse. Mandrake. There are two plants which are denominated Mandrake by our countrymen; they have large and forked roots. Of these, the Bryonia diocia is largest, white, and hairy; the Tamus communis is smaller, dark, and smooth. Shakspeare compares Justice Shallow to these roots. "I do remember him at Clement's Inn, like a man made after supper of a cheese-paring. When he was naked, he was for all the world like a forked radish, with a head fantastically carved upon it with a knife; he was the very genius of famine, yet lascivious as a monkey, and they called him Mandrake." King Henry IV. act iii. sc. 2. The etymology of the word is from its root being generally divided and forked, like a man. "Semihominis mandragoræ flores."- Colum. It is also denominated Mandragon by Gerard. The English word man exists in the Latin humanus; likewise in the Hebrew, and other languages. In the present instance, it is found in the Greek combined with the word dracon, from δερκω, aspicio. Littleton supposes the word is substituted for andragoras, from avno, vir, and ayopew, loquor. "Quod humanam speανηρ, ciem quodammodo etiam vocem quum evellitur, si vera tradunt referat ejulans?" To this Shakspeare adverts: Again, "And shrieks like mandrakes torn out of the earth: That living mortals, bearing them, run mad."-R. & Jul. a. iv. s. 2. "Would curses kill as doth the mandrake's groan, I'd-" From hence it appears that the plant was believed to utter a horrible and fatal shriek when dug out of the earth. We receive a small forked root from Chinese Tartary, the name of which is Ginseng. I have always believed that the Chinese etymology of this word was Jin-seang, (vide Morr. 8868,) Mr. Morrison, however, in No. 8803, gives it differently; and in part iii. p. 187, he gives it thus, jin-san, from jin, a man, and san, gradual; its slow growth being supposed, according to him, to have suggested the name. I am still of opinion that the form 8803 is rather derived from 8868, or jin-seang, man's likeness; and I have no doubt but it has the same meaning as the word mandrake, although the origin of the term may have been obscured by its antiquity. Mr. Morrison illustrates the use of this root in the following paragraph, which, as it indicates its virtue, I may be pardoned for transcribing. "The true Shang-tang gin-seng may be essayed by two men walking together a few miles, one having jin-san in his mouth, and the other with his mouth empty. When he who has nothing in his mouth is panting exceedingly, the other's breath will be just as usual." This passage reminded me of Shakspeare's "One poor pennyworth of sugar-candy, to make thee long-winded." Thus, ginseng appears to be chewed in the celestial empire as tobacco is with us. Loureiro shews that the Canadian root, Nin-sing, is very different in quality, as well as in appearance. Galen, writing of mandrake, observes, that its virtue resides in its rind, or bark, and he considers it as cold in the highest degree. By his terms, hot and cold, we must understand the acrid and the narcotic of modern toxicologists; and those plants the temperature of which, by the old writers, was considered as of the third and fourth degree, must merit our particular attention. The plant of Galen was the Atropa mandragora, and the Circæum of Pliny, employed by Circe in her incantations. Shakspeare alludes to it when, to imply madness, he says, "I think you all have drank of Circe's cup."-C. of Errors, act v. sc. 1. And again, "Or have we eaten of the insane-root, That takes the reason prisoner?-Macbeth, act i. sc. 3. As the lurid Solanum Melongena, Melanzana, or Mala insana, mad-apples, is evidently named from its effect upon the brain, so the analogous root of the Atropa mandragora must be the insane-root of Shakspeare. It was also administered in the liquid form; for Cleopatra says, Give me to drink mandragora, 'Ha, ha, That I might sleep out this great gap of time."-Ant. & Cl. a. i. sc.5. The syrup of it was likewise given as the syrup of poppy: "Not poppy nor mandragora, Nor all the drowsy syrups of the world, Shall ever medicine thee to that sweet sleep Which thou hadst yesterday."-Othello, act iii. sc. 3. As the hemlock and the mandrake, so the hebenon, &c. were directed to be gathered at midnight.* "Thoughts black, hands up, drugs fit, and time agreeing, Confederate season, else no creature seeing. Thou mixture rank of midnight weeds collected, Thy natural magic and dire property On wholesome life usurp immediately."-Act iii. sc. 1. Being a native of the countries of Circe and Medea, it was no doubt one of those which the latter collected to renovate Æson. "In such a night Medea gathered the enchanted herbs That did renew old son." The Parisian Circea Lutetiana is by our botanists denominated Enchanter's, or Enchantress's nightshade; but I generally give it the shorter name of Hagwort, and, in the manner of Pythagoras, I dedicate it to the number 2, as the Horsechestnut and Ragwort to the numbers 7 and 13, expressive of the major and minor modes in music, and of the weeks and lunations in astronomy. The mandrake of Scripture, which had a remarkable smell, was evidently the flower of a different plant. In Hebrew it is Dudain or Davidaim, as it were Flos amoris, or Floramor; and hence probably our word Daffodils. "That come before the swallow dares, and take The winds of March with beauty."-Winter's Tale, act iv. sc. 3. The daffodils of Milton were, however, our Crown imperials, as, lamenting the death of Lycidas, he says, alluding to the nectaries of that flower, • Vide Hebenon, p. 22. |