[252] Fée ridicules this notion with considerable zest.
[253] 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.
[254] Evidently a superstition derived from the Druids.
[255] Sprengel thinks that it is the Samolus Valerandi of Linnæus, the round-leaved water-pimpernel, and Anguillara identifies it with the Anemone pulsatilla, or pasque-flower. Fée inclines to the opinion that it is the Veronica beccabunga of Linnæus, the brook-lime.
[256] In B. xiii. c. 20.
[257] Gum is still used, Fée says, for this purpose.
[258] It is of no use whatever for burns, or as a diuretic.
[259] Fée says that it is not different in any way from the gum of other trees.
[260] Fée remarks, that gum is injurious as a cosmetic.
[261] Gum is of no use whatever in such a case.