ANGUINUM OVUM, a fabulous kind of egg, said to be produced by the saliva of a cluster of serpents, and possessed of certain magical virtues. The superstition in respect to these was very prevalent among the ancient Britons; and there still remains a strong tradition of it in Wales. The account Pliny gives of it is as follows: "Præterea est ovorum genus in magna."
"Galliarum fama, omisum Græcis Angues innumeri æstate convoluti, salivis faucium corporumque spumis artifici complexu glomerantur; anguinum appellatur. Druidæ sibiis id dicunt in sublime jactari, fagoque oportere intercipi, ne tellurem attingat: profugere raptorem equo: serpentes enim insequi, donec arceantur annis alicujus interventu." — Of which the following may serve as a translation: (from Mason's Characters; the person speaking, a Druid.)
But tell me yet
From the grot of charms and spells,
Where our matron sister dwells,
Brennus, has thy holy hand
Safely brought the Druid wand,
And the potent Adder-stone,
Gender'd fore the autumnal moon?
When, in undulating twine,
The foaming snakes prolific join;
When they hiss, and when they bear
Their wondrous egg aloof in air:
Thence before to earth it fall,
The Druid in his hallow'd pall,
Receives the prize,
And instant flies,
Follow'd by the envenom'd brood,
'Till he cross the crystal flood.
This wondrous egg seems to be nothing more than a bead of glass, used by the Druids as a charm to impose on the vulgar, whom they taught to believe, that the possessor would be fortunate in all his attempts, and that it would gain him the favour of the great.
Our
Our modern Druidesses (says Mr Pennant, from whom we extract) give much the same account of the ovum anguinum, glain neidr, as the Welsh call it, or the adder-gem, as the Roman philosopher does; but seem not to have so exalted an opinion of its powers, using it only to assist children in cutting their teeth, or to cure the chincough, or to drive away an ague.
These beads are of a very rich blue colour; some plain, others streaked. For their figure, see Plate XXXII. fig. 22. no 1, 2, 3.