Camas Prairie chronicle. [volume] (Cottonwood, Idaho) 1901-1917, 1916-12-22

THE MEDICINAL MISTLEToE.
An "AII heaIe" of the Ancients-Myth
Concarninn the Parasite.

An "AII-h eaIe" of the Ancients-Myth
Concerning the Parasite.
"a monster in botany, a dryad in
mythology, panacea in therapeutics
and a perennial Yuletide symbol is
the traditional character assigned to
the viscum album, "all-heale," or mis-
tletoe, by DR.. John Knott in the New
York Medical Journal The mistletoe
! at Christmastide is hailed by doctors
as an old acquaintance, the legend of
whose healing virtues Is still potent in
the practice of some Of that respecta-
BILE profession. For at least twenty
centuries its air lodged rootlets have
penetrated with the mystery Of their
origin the pages alike Of folklore and
of botanical and medical literature.
Suspended green In wintry branches,
! the parasite was by its strange con-
trast of environment invested with
awe and religious dignity by the Celtic
Druids and outrivaled in fame among
the western nations the lotus of the
Egyptians. Vergil compared its mys.
FERROUS LEAKAGE and fruitage to the 81
byl's golden bough." The Sbyl of
Scandinavia was wakened from Loki's
iron sleep to prOphesy the death by
the mistletoe of the bright sun god
Balder. Its fiourishing amid the dead
starkness of winter may account for
the fatal qualities assigned to the ever
green by the northern nations, but also
its wondrous vitality made it symbol
| On
Pliny in Philemon Hollands quaint
translation thus describes the herb in
the quaint and ancient ceremony Of the
Druids:
"They call it in their Ian
guage AllHeale for they haue an opin
ion of it that it cureth all maIadies
whatsoeuerl, and when they are about
to gather it, after they haue well &
duly prepared their sacrifices and fes
tiual cheere vnder the said tree, they
bring thither two yong bullOcks milk
white, such as neuer drew in yoke at
plow or vain, and whose heads were
then and not before bound by the horn,
which done, the priest. araied In a
surplesse or white vesture, climbeth
vp into the tree and with a golden
hooke or bill cutteth 1t off, and they
beneath receiue it in Il white soldiers
cassock or coat of arms. Then they
fall to Kill the beasts aforesaid for sac.
rifce, muInbling many OTaisons &
praying deuoutly: that it would please
God to blesse this gift of his to the
good and benefit Of all those to whom
he had vouchsafed to glue it. Now
this persuasion they haue of Misselto
thus gathered. That what Huing crea
lures soeuer otherwise barren) do
drink of it. will presently become fruit
full thereupon; also. that 1t is a SOU
eraign countrepoison or singular RENE
die against all vermine. So vain and
superstitious are many nations in the
world and oftentimes in such frivolous
and foolish things as these"
Sir Thomas Browne was a bit skep.
teal of its qualities as q panacea, and
modern medical authorities almost uni
versally scout its therapeuticai preten.
sions. Strangely enough the survival
of its medicinal use in England is "as
popular remedy in cases Of cardiac
trouble" Affections of the heart, we
doubt not, have been successfully
treated by means of the mistletoe But
we venture lay opinion that the pa
tents were young, the plant was sus-
pended above their heads and was eff
cacious only in the joyous Christmas
season.
sii sa!ii .it -; sssssi