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CHAP. 62.—SELAGO: TWO REMEDIES.

Similar to savin is the herb known as "selago."1 Care is taken to gather it without the use of iron, the right hand being passed for the purpose through the left sleeve of the tunic, as though the gatherer were in the act of committing a theft.2 The clothing too must be white, the Feet bare and washed clean, and a sacrifice of bread and wine must be made before gathering it: it is carried also in a new napkin. The Druids of Gaul have pretended that this plant should be carried about the person as a preservative against accidents of all kinds, and that the smoke of it is extremely good for all maladies of the eyes.

1 The Lycopodium selago of Linnæus, upright club-moss, or fir- moss, according to Sprengel. Fée , however, dissents from that opinion, for the Lycopodium, he says, is but some three inches in height, while savin, with which the Selago is here compared, is more than eight or ten Feet high. De Théis (Gloss. Botan.) thinks that it must have been a succulent plant; but upon what grounds he bases that conjecture, Fée declares himself at a loss to conjecture.

2 Evidently a superstition derived from the Druids.

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