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Insane Root
(The). Hemlock. It is said that those who eat hemlock
can see subjective things as objects. Thus, when Banquo had encountered
the witches, who vanished as mysteriously as they appeared, he said to
Macbeth, “Were such things [really ] here, ... or have we eaten
the insane root, that takes the reason prisoner,” so that our eyes see
things that are not. (Macbeth, i. 3.)
Other plants “take the reason prisoner,” as the Pruna insana,
the “Indian nut,” “Hoary nightshade.”
Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894 More on Insane Root from Infoplease:
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