METEORITES IN ANCIENT AND MODERN TIMES. 353 



No doubt many of the holy stones were venerated on 

 account of their form quite independently of their origin ; 

 the image of Venus in Cyprus is described by Tacitus as 

 being not of human shape but conical ; and he adds : " Et 

 ratio in obscuro " ; and Pausanias says that the images of 

 Jupiter Melichius and of Diana were, the one a pyramid, 

 and the other a column. 



Even among the stones enumerated by Pliny which 

 have been more or less identified with meteoric stones, the 

 shape is one of the features according to which some at 

 least were distinguished. The Ceraunia, or sky-stones, of his 

 classification include as varieties stones which he refers to as 

 Baetuli, Brontiaand Notia, some of which have special shapes. 

 All of these names frequently recur in mediaeval literature. 



It is evident that in one passage Pliny uses Ceraunia 

 for a variety of precious stone, Beryl or Sapphire perhaps ; 

 but besides these he quotes Sotacus for the existence of 

 two kinds of Ceraunia " which are black and red, resembling 

 axes. Such as are black and round are holy things ; cities 

 and fleets can be captured by their means. A third sort 

 greatly sought by the Magi are only found in places struck 

 by lightning." 



The word Bsetylus remains a mystery ; the name was 

 primarily given to the stone which Saturn swallowed in mis- 

 take for Jove, but seems to have been subsequently applied 

 to all meteoric stones. Hesychius suggests the Hebrew 

 "Bethel" and the stone of Jacob as its origin; and this 

 derivation seems to be accepted in the Dictionary of the 

 Bible, though without any philological justification. 



About the Brontia Pliny "says that if we have sufficient 

 faith we are to believe that they get into the heads of tor- 

 toises after thunderstorms ; and here, I think, there is some 

 confusion between the shape of some Brontia and the origin 

 of others. 



Through the midst of all this superstition, however, runs 

 a continuous thread of reference to a celestial origin by 

 which we are now able, in the light of subsequent experi- 

 ence, to trace a constantly recurring expression of the belief 

 in meteoric falls. 



