was in like manner
thought by the Saxons to be due to a spectre, or mare, which
they called the "wood mare." The Water [51] Betony is said to
make one of the ingredients in Count Mattaei's noted remedy,
"anti-scrofuloso." The Figwort is named in Somersetshire "crowdy-kit"
(the word kit meaning a fiddle), "or fiddlewood," because if two of
the stalks are rubbed together, they make a noise like the scraping
of the bow on violin strings. In Devonshire, also, the plant is
known as "fiddler."

An allied Figwort--which is botanically called _nodosa_, or
knotted--is considered, when an ointment is made with it, using
the whole plant bruised and treated with unsalted lard, a sovereign
remedy against "burnt holes" or gangrenous chicken-pox, such as
often attacks the Irish peasantry, who subsist on a meagre and
exclusively vegetable diet, being half starved, and pent up in
wretched foul hovels. This herb is said to be certainly curative of
hydrophobia, by taking every morning whilst fasting a slice of
bread and butter on which the powdered knots of the roots have
been spread, following it up with two tumblers of fresh spring
water. Then let the patient be well clad in woollen garments and
made to take a long fast walk until in a profuse perspiration. The
treatment should be continued for nine days. Again, the botanical
name of a fig, _ficus_, has been commonly applied to a sore or
scab appearing on a part of the body where hair is, or to a red sore
in the fundament, i.e., to a pile. And the Figwort is so named in
allusion to its curative virtues against piles, when the plant is made
into an ointment for outward use, and when the tincture is taken
internally. It is specially visited by wasps.

BILBERRY (Whortleberry, or Whinberry).

This fruit, which belongs to the Cranberry order of plants, grows
abundantly throughout England in heathy [52] and mountainous
districts. The small-branched shrub bears globular, wax-like
flowers, and black berries, which are covered, when quite fresh,
with a grey bloom. In the West of England they are popularly
called "whorts," and they ripen about the time of St. James' Feast,
July 25th. Other names for the fruit are Blueberry, Bulberry,
Hurtleberry, and Huckleberry. The title Whinberry has been
acquired from its growing on Whins, or Heaths; and Bilberry
signifies dark coloured; whence likewise comes Blackwort as
distinguished in its aspect from the Cowberry and the Cranberry.
By a corrupti