St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-12-25
MISTLET0E KISSES.
Superstitious Regard for Ira
diti0nS OF the Shrub in
OIden Days.
What Generally Happens
When You Get Your Cousin
Beneath the Bough.
Why 1t Happens, How 1t Hap
pens, and Why She Does
Not Object.
How the Poets Sing Of the
Old Custo ms and the
Mistletoe.

species of the order. There is only one
species known to Great Britain, the
common mistletoe-the viscum album,
as 1t is b0tanically knOwn-and it is
with that particular species that we
have to deal. 1t is popularly supposed
that the mistletOe grows exclusively on
THE OAK TREE,
but this is mistake, as it is found on
the oak in very rare instances, while it
grows with great prOfuSlon on the
apple. the pear. the hawthorn, and also
on sycamoreS, lines. poplars, locust
trees and frs. In some portions of the
South of England it is very abundant,
and its evergreen leaves give peculiar
appearance to the orchards in winter,
when the bushes of miStletoe are very
conspicuous among the naked branches
of the trees.
The mistletoe derives its nourishment
from the living tissue of the tree on
which it seems to spring, as If it were
one of its own branches. The berries,
which are about the size of currants,
white, transparent and full of a very
viScid Juice, which serves TO attach the
seeds to branches, where they take root
when they terminate, are favOrite
food of thrushes, and bird lime is made
from them, and also
FROM THE BARK.
At one time the miStletOe was held in
great repute as remedial agent for
epilepsy and commissions. but in truth it
possesses no decided medicinal proper
ties. Yet the old herbalist. Geriaade,
writing in 1868, SAYS: ''Dayly expert
-ence shews this plant to have no ma
ligne nor poisonous but rather con-
trarie facultie, being frequently used in
medicines against the epilepsie. The
leaves and berries OF miStletOe are hot
and dry, and of subtill parts:- the bird
lime is hot and biting; and consists OF
an airy and waterie substance, with
some earthlie qualitie; for, according to
the judgment of Galen, his acrimOny
overcometh his bitterness; for if it be
used in outward applications it draweth
humors from the deepest part of the
body, spreading and dispensing them
abroad and digestihg them. 1t ripeneth
hard swellings behind the ears and
other imposthumes, being tempered
with rosin and a little qualitie of wax.
1t hath been most credibly reported
with me that few of the berries of the
mistletOe bruised strained into ayle and
drunken hath presently and forthwith
rid greyiouS and sore stitch"
There is superstition connected with
the miStleIoe that
1T IS UNLUCKY
to fell an oak on which it grows, and the
author of magma Britannia" describes
a great wood belonging to the archbish-
ops of the Hundred of Croyland, said to
have consisted wholly of oaks, and
among them was one that bore mistletoe
which some persons were so hardy as to
Off m 70
apOthecarieS of London. leaving a branch
of it to sprout out, but they proved un-
fortunate after it, for one of them fell
lame and others lost all eye. AT length,
in the year 1878, certain man, nOtWith-
standing he was warned against it, upon
the account of what the others had Suf-
fered, adventured to cut the tree down,
and he soon after broke his leg. To
fell oaks had long been considered fatal,
and such as believe it produce the in
stance of the Earl of WinchelSea, who,
having felled a curious grove of oaks,
soon after found his countess dead in
her bed suddenly; and his eldest son.
Lord Maidstone, was presently killed
by cannon ball.
The Druids regarded the oak as a sa-
cred tree, for under its shadow they
performed most of their sacrifices, and
no religious ceremony was entered upon
them without wearing garland of its
leaves. AS the mistletoe grew so rarely
oil the oak, 1t received from them the
same homage as the tree itself. The
ceremony of cutting the mistletoe from
the oak is described by Pliny, and it
was made the occasion of great
RELIGIOUS FESTIVAL.
1t took place as near as possible to the
10th of March of each year. and was per-
formed by the Arch Druid himself. who,
having tied two white bulls to the tree
by their horns, mounted the tree clothed
in white, and, with a knife of pure gold.
separated the mistletoe from its parent
tree, which was received in white
sagum' or cloth made of wool. This
done, the bulls were sacrificed, and
they proceeded to the further Observ-
ances and feastingS. If portion of the
nistletoe but touched the ground, it was
an omen of misfortune to the land. The
bulls having been sacrificed. the mistle-
toe was dipped in cold water and dis
tributed among the people, who cher
ished it as an antidOte against poison. a
protection against witchcraft and q
remedy against barrenness.
The means by which the mistletoe is
prOpagated is moot point. Geriarde,
from whom we quote again, hath it that
"This eXerescenee hath not any root,
nor doth increase himself of his seed.
as some have supposed, but it rather
eOmeth of certain moisture and sub
stance gathered together upon the
boughs and Joints of the trees, through
the bark whereof this vaporous moisture
proceeding. pringeth forth the mistle-
toe" Modern research seems to have
determined that the tieldfare, the black
bird and the musical thrush in England
are the principal agents concerned in
the propagation: but whether by merely
rubbing the SuperfiuOus seeds adhering
to their beaks or the bark of trees, or by
passing them through their bodies, re-
mains, and is likely to remain, matter
for doubt and discussion.
While the young root OF almost every
other plant at first descends, that of the
mistIetoe at first rises upward and then
bends over until it reaches the body of
the substance to which the
SEED Is ATTACHED.
The roots penetrate through the bark,
between the inner bark and the soft
wood. where the sap is most abundant,
and, as the tree advances in age, be-
comes imbedded in the solid wood, alb
sorbing the ascending and returning
sap and preventing its circulation, and
there the parasite fiouriSbes until the
tree itself decays. 1t is intimately con-
nected with many of the superstitions
of the ancient Germans, and traces of
the ancient regard for the mistletoe still
exist in some old English and German
customs, such as kissing under the mis-
tletoe at Christmas, and as a warning
to all fair damsals who do not indulge
in that pastime, they should take note
fhot II hao happ said that the maid who
was not kissed at Christmas under the
mistletoe would not be married that
year.
Brand, the antiQuary. says that sit
had place assigned it in kitchens,