_Gut-heyl_, and both wonderfully agreeing with the name which Pliny says
it bore in his time, _Omnia sanans_.

William Bell, Ph.D.

* * * * *

FOLK LORE.

_Folk Lore of South Northamptonshire._--No. 2.

_Mice._--A sudden influx of mice into a house, hitherto free from their
ravages, denotes approaching mortality among its inhabitants. A mouse
running over a person is considered to be an infallible sign of death,
as is also the squeaking of one behind the bed of an invalid, or the
appearance or apparition of a white mouse running across the room. To
meet with a shrew-mouse, in going a journey, is reckoned ominous of
evil. The country people have an idea that the harvest-mouse is unable
to cross a path which has been trod by man. Whenever they attempt, they
are immediately, as my informant expressed it, "struck dead." This, they
say, accounts for the numbers which on a summer's evening may be found
lying dead on the verge of the field footpaths, without any external
wound or apparent cause for their demise.

_Snakes._--There is a very prevalent belief that a snake can never die
till the sun is down. Cut or hack it as you will, it will never die till
sunset. This idea has evidently its source in the amazing vitality
common to the species.

_Poultry._--The crowing of a hen bodes evil, and is frequently followed