The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1891-04-20
A MAGIC PLANT.
Cne of the Strangest and Most Useful
of Herbs.

OF HERBS.
From Chambers Journal
Ii is to be doubted whether any better in
stance could be found of the wealth of ira
dition, legend and story that centers in a
single little plant than that which has ac>
cumulated round the mandrake. 1t has a
literature ali to itself, and learning seems
to have exhausted itself over its etymology.
The plant itself Is so Insignificant that it
would not naturally excite any great in
terest. Its leaves are long. sharp pointed
and hairy, rising Immediately from the
ground, and are of a vivid dark green. Its
flowers are dingy white, stained with
veins OF purple, end its fruit of
pale orange, about the size of a
nutmeg. The root is spindle-shaped,
often divided into two or three forks. and
rudely resembles the human form, from
which possibly it takes its name But il we
turn from the plant itself to the monument
OF learning that has been erected around il.
it is impossible not to be struck with the
universal interest it has possessed for all
people and in all ages. We do not know
how many Shakespearean commentators
have puzzled over the allusion in Juliets
soliloquy:
And shrieks like mandrakes torn out of the
earth,
That living mortals hearing them run mad;
And contrasted it with the parallel apos-
trophe Of Suffolk in liking Henry VI ~
who, asked by Queen Margaret whether he
hos not spirit to curse his enemies, replies
Would curses kill, as doth the mandrake
groan,
| would invent as bitter searching terms.
As curst, as harsh, as horrible TO hear.
As the legend runs, in order to procure
the magic plant it was necessary to cut
away ali the suckers to the main rootIbefore
all Wo1r .saL
any man or creature who heard the human
screams it made. They had an ingenious,
If cowardly, way Of getting over the diff
Guilty, which would certainly not commend
itself nowadays to the Society for the Pre-
vention of Cruelty to Animals. After
carefully stopping their ears, they took a
dog and tied its tail securely to the plant,
and then walking away to a short distance
called the dog to follow. In doing this
the luckless animal would pull up
the much-coveted root, but would
fall dead upon the spot. This was, at any
rate, according to Josephus, the old Jewish
practice; but the tradition at least long sur
vlved. Whatever may be the origin for the
theory that the root shrieked or groaned
when separated from the earth, it certainly
remained a current tradition long after
Shakespeare immortalized it. Since, how
ever, the root is named from its imaginary
resemblance to the human figure, it is not
unnatural to suppose that it may have been
credited with possessing some of the attri-
butes Of human feeling. Langhorne, in the
latter part of the eighteenth century, tells
us to
Mark how that rooted mandrake wears
His human feet, his human hands.
Among it's names in this connection are
those Of the Devils Food" and the Devils
Apple" the "Tuphach oil Sheitan" of the
Arabs. That this uncanny belief continued
down to almost modern times is shown by
an anecdote for which Madame du Meyer is
responsible. According to this, on the
murder Of the Merechal de Fabert In 1862,
which was popularity attributed to his
having broken a compact with the devil,
two mandrakes of extraordinary beauty
were found by his friends in his
rooms, and these were regarded
as conclusive proof of the diaboical
league, of which they failed to fin as they
hoped, any written record. 1t has always
been in great vogue ia the east, both Jews
and Arabs having from time immemorial
also valued # for the magic values which
were so long commonly attached TO a love-
philter. This attribute which dates at least
from the Old Testament times, remained
current in Italy until the middle ages, for
there are plenty Of records showing that
there was a brisk demand for the root
among the Italian ladies' Perhaps
the most extraordinary Of the prop
critics attributed to it arasthose which il
shared in common with the RdstriUtrGUd Of
Russia, of enabling house-breakers to pick
locks, which is certainly one Of the most
amusing developments of the solar theory
Love, it is said, Laughs at locksmiths;"
but the connection between the mandrake
and ''burgling" seems little forced. There
is tradition that the moonwort will uH-
shoe horses if they step UPON the plant, and
similar powers have been attri buted to the
vervain and the mandrake