and Samolus as sacred plants, and never approached them but in the
most devout and reverential manner. When they were gathered for
religious purposes the greatest care was taken lest they should fall
to the earth, for it was an established principle of Druidism, that
every thing that was sacred would be profaned if allowed to touch
the ground; hence their solicitude to catch the anguinum:


"------------------When they bear
Their wond'rous egg aloof in air:
Thence before to earth it fall,
The Druid in his hallow'd pall
Receives the prize."

Pliny, in his _Natural History_ (lib. xxiv. cap. 11.)
gives a circumstantial account of the ceremonies
used by the Druids in gathering the Selago and
Samolus, and of the uses to which they were applied:--


"Similis berbæ huie sabinæ est Selago appellata. Legitur
sine ferro dextra manu per tunicam, qua sinistra
exuitur velut a furante, candida veste vestito, pureque
lotis nudis pedibus, saero facto priusquam legatur,
pane vinoque. Fertur in mappa nova. Hanc contra omnem
perniciem habendam prodidere Druidæ Gallorum, et contra
omnia oculorum vitia fumum ejus prodesse.


"Iidem Samolum herbam nominavere nascentem in humidis: