There was a time when people placed great reliance upon the efficacy of dreams. Plants seen in dreams always had special significance. Among the various omens, general good fortune was indicated by Palms, Olives, Jessamines, Lilies, Laurels, Thistles, Currants and Roses. When flowers or fruit of the Plum, Cherry, Cypress and Dandelion appeared, misfortune was indicated. Withered Roses foretold especially dire events. “Nobody is fond of fading flowers.” A four-leaved Clover put under a pillow induced dreams of one’s lover. In parts of South America, the natives are said to smoke and eat certain intoxicating plants in the hope that they may see visions in the resulting narcotic dreams. Plants have not been the cause of very many ghost stories, but occasionally one hears of some mysterious night adventure of which some plant is the central figure. The Reverend S. H. Wainright of Japan tells a somewhat amusing tale of a ghost scare he and his family had while living at Tsukiji, Tokio. One evening, while sitting around the fire, they were considerably disturbed by a weird and recurring sound which seemed to come from the front yard. At first they took it for the creaking of a bamboo gate, then for boys throwing pebbles, but neither of these explanations seemed adequate. Finally, continual repetitions led to a search which located the noises in a Wistaria arbour near the front fence. On near approach, the loud taps sounded so much like stones striking the leaves, that it was decided to take no further notice of the matter. However, the problem weighed on Mr. Wainright’s mind, and he and his son at length sallied forth a third time, determined with Aristotle that the main thing was to know the causes. “We entered the side yard through the bamboo gate and approached the Wistaria. Underneath the Trellis arbour there were dark shadows and outlines were indistinct. A Palmyra Palm was growing in the corner of the fence under the arbour, and the fingers of one of the leaves pointing downward seemed to be the hand of a man. When expectation is running high, a fingered palm leaf may easily become the hand of a human being or of a shadowy ghost. We had the electric burners brought to the windows upstairs and the light thrown toward the arbour, and the shadows cast by the electric rays rendered the situation all the more mysterious. “The noises were plainly among the Wistaria vines. But, strange to say, the stones which seemed to be striking the vines came from no particular direction. They seemed to burst like shells the minute they struck and the pieces were heard to fall or strike in different directions. By this time the thought of ghosts had not only occurred to us but was gaining force in our minds. Indeed, a first-rate romance was developing--subjectively, I should no doubt add.”