[385] The fruit of the lotus (which is a form of Hathor) assumes a form (Spanton, op. cit., Fig. 51) that is identical with a common Mediterranean symbol of the Great Mother, called "pomegranate" by Sir Arthur Evans (see my text-fig. 6, p. 179, m), which is a surrogate of the apple and mandrake. The likeness to the Egyptian hieroglyph for a jar of water (text-fig. 6, l) and the goddess Nu of the fruit of the poppy (which was closely associated with the mandrake by reason of its soporific properties) may have assisted in the transference of their attributes. The design of the water-plant (text-fig. 7, d) associated with the Nile god may have helped such a confusion and exchange.
[386] "A Popular Account of the Ancient Egyptians," revised and abridged, 1890, Vol. I, p. 323.
[387] See, for example, Sir Arthur Evans, "Mycenæan Tree and Pillar Worship," Fig. 27, p. 46.
[388] In a Japanese dragon-story the dragon drinks "sake" from pots set out on the shore (as Hathor drank the didi mixture from pots associated with the river); and the intoxicated monster was then slain. From its tail the hero extracted a sword (as in the case of the Western dragons), which is now said to be the Mikado's state sword.
[389] See Gauthier, op. cit., pp. 2 and 3.
[390] Compare the dog-incident in the mandrake story.
[391] Bostock and Riley add the comment that "the peony has no medicinal virtues whatever".
[392] Proceedings of the British Academy, Vol. VIII, 1917, p. 16 (in the reprint).
[393] I am indebted to Dr. Alphonse Mingana for this information. But the philological question is discussed in a learned memoir by the late Professor P. J. Veth, "De Leer der Signatuur," Internationales Archiv für Ethnographie, Leiden, Bd. VII, 1894, pp. 75 and 105, and especially the appendix, p. 199 et seq., "De Mandragora, Naschrift op het tweede Hoofdstuk der Verhandeling over de Leer der Signatur".
[394] Like the Purpura and the Pterocera, the bryony and other shells and plants.