Another instance is afforded by the chimaera, the solution of which
enigma, as given by Ovid, is so fully substantiated by the very
intelligent British officer who surveyed the Caramania a few years
since. Scylla the sea monster, which devoured six of the rowers of
Ulysses, M. Salverte, a recent compiler on the marvellous, is tempted to
regard as an overgrown polypus magnified by the optical power of poetry,
though we are disposed to give the credit to an alligator, or its mate,
a crocodile; and this occurrence is not so fictitiously represented, as
it is supposed to be.
MAGICAL PRETENSIONS OF CERTAIN HERBS, ETC.
In the enumeration of plants possessing magical properties, Pliny
mentions those which, according to Pythagoras, have the property of
concealing water. Elsewhere, without having resource to magic, he
assigns to hemp an analogous quality. According to him, the juice of
this plant poured into water becomes suddenly inspissated and
congealed. It is probable enough, that he indicated a species of mallow,
the hemp-leaved marsh-mallow, of which the mucilaginous juice produces
this effect to a certain point, and an effect which may also be obtained
from every vegetable as rich in mucilage.
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