ntaining the germ of the idea materialised in 'Sanitas.' For
disinfecting purposes wormwood and rue were used sometimes together, and
sometimes separately.

The connection between plants and heraldic badges is often close, and
although we do not find rue frequent in heraldry, one curious instance
of it is interesting. In 809 an Order was created whereof the collar was
made of a design in thistles and rue--the thistle because 'being full of
prickles is not to be touched without hurting the skin,' rue because it
'is good against serpents and poison.'

Here we have a suggestion of the lizards of the old oracle quoted
above.

CHAPTER XII.

THE ROMANCE OF A VEGETABLE.

There used to be a popular acrostic the foundation of which is the
subject of much speculation. It turned upon two lines of Scott's famous
poem, and ran thus:

'"Charge, Chester, charge!
On, Stanley, on!"
Were the last words of Marmion.
Were I in gallant Stanley's place,
When Marmion urged him to the chase,
A word you then would all espy,
That brings a tear to every eye.'

The answer is 'Onion,' and the speculation which results is: Why does a
raw onion make the eyes water?

The Greeks, being aware of this characteristic, called the onion
_kromuon_; and when they ate it raw, they prudently closed their eyes.

Shakespeare's players in the Taming of the Shrew knew all about it:

'If the boy have not a woman's gift,
To rain a shower of commanded tears,
An onion will do well for such a shift,
Which in a napkin, being close conveyed,
Shall in despite enforce a watery eye.'

So did Lafeu:

'Mine eyes smell onions, I shall weep anon.'

So also did Domitius Enobarbus, who comforted Antony, on reporting the
death of Fulvia, by saying, 'Indeed, the tears live in an onion that
should water this sorrow,' and who called himself 'onion-eyed' when the
Roman addressed his followers before the battle.

The fact, then, has been known for centuries, but the explanation only
since chemistry came to be applied to matters of common life. The onion
belongs to the genus _Allium_, all the species of which possess a
peculiar, pungent, acrid juice, with a powerful odour. The garlic has a
stronger smell than the onion, but the onion has more of the volatile
oil which all the members of the genus possess.

The constituents which make the genus valuable as food are: albumen,
sugar, mucilage, phosphate of lime, and certain salt