in the summer of 1870, and which had been buried there since 
the year 120, or about 1750 years, one of which claims special 
attention in this paper. It was dedicated to Vulcan by Helstrius 
Novellus, who commanded the first cohort of Spaniards— 
Helstrius Novellus Praefectus Numini Volcani Solvit. Helstrius 
Novellus the prefect (erects this altar in Aischarge of a vow) to the 
deity Vulcan. 
“For the first time in Britain,” says Dr. Bruce, “we meet 
with a dedication to the blacksmith’s god, Vulcan.” Can we 
admit this altar as evidence that the Romans worked iron at or 
near our Roman Camp? Following out this idea, I may add 
that Vulcan had a son called Olénus. The name given by the 
Romans to their Camp at Maryport was Olenacum. Was the 
Camp called after the river Alne, or the Alne after the son of 
Vulcan? Though wishful to maintain the honour of the god 
of iron-workers, I will not press the solution of this query, but call 
attention to it as a curious coincidence. 
Vulcan, I must tell the uninitiated, was the patron god of 
all artists who worked in iron and metals. The most ancient 
festival in honour of Vulcan seems to have been the Furnaria, 
Vulcan being the god of furnaces. His forges were supposed to 
be under Mount Etna, in the Island of Sicily, as well as in every 
part of the earth where there were volcanoes. How puny is 
the conception of our largest furnaces compared with those of 
the brawny forgers of Jupiter’s thunder-bolts ! 
With our present knowledge of meteors, we can understand 
the ancients conceiving fiery missiles descending on to the earth 
to be the same that their god Vulcan had discharged from 
volcanoes into the heavens. These celestial visitors, however, 
numerous as they were, would have been totally inadequate to 
_ meet the present requirements of man. Fortunately for us, iron 
_ ores, widely distributed, and unlimited in quantity, are embedded 
_ in the earth. 
In many coal-fields the occurrence of rich beds of iron ore in 
