Athanasia was abbreviated by the old herbalists into Tansy, and this herb acquired the fame due to its distinguished designation. In Lucian’s Dialogues of the Gods, Jupiter tells Hercules to take with him the beautiful Ganymede, whom he has stolen from earth, “and when he has drunk of Athanasia (immortality) bring him back, and he shall be our cupbearer.” Naturally the ancients sought for that herb, Athanasia, which would yield immortality. MYRRH. Myrrha, the daughter of Cinyrus, King of Cyprus, having become pregnant, was driven from home by her father, and fled to Arabia. The story told by Ovid is that she had conceived a criminal passion for her father, and that by deception she had taken her mother’s place by his side one night. Lost in the desert and overcome by remorse, she had prayed the gods to grant that she should no longer remain among the living, nor be counted with the dead. Touched with pity for her, they changed her into the tree which yields the gum which to this day bears her name. NEPENTHE. Nepenthe, or more correctly Nepenthes, is described by Homer in the Odyssey as an Egyptian plant which Helen, the wife of Menelaus, had received from Polydamna, wife of Thonis, King of Egypt. The word is compounded of _ne_, negation, and _penthos_, pain or affliction. Helen mixed it for Telemachus in “a mirth inspiring bowl” which would Clear the cloudy front of wrinkled care, And dry the tearful sluices of despair. Its effects would last all through one day. No matter what horrors surrounded, From morn to eve, impassive and serene The man entranced would view the dreadful scene.