268 TEAXSACTIONS OF THE [mAY 31, 



purer forms, they hold it to be the saliva of the Violet Dragon. 

 The belief of the ancients, both Orientals and Occidentals, was that 

 quartz-crystal was nothing but pure water congealed by intense 

 cold, and found only in the regions of eternal frost, hence the name 

 of rock-crystal was clear ice, and the one Avord served alike for 

 the stone and for ice. The Chinese and Japanese word " suisho " 

 reflects a similiar idea, meaning "substance of water," and the 

 theory of its production was part of the pagan conception of the 

 universe. Of the nine kinds of dragons in the pagan world of 

 imagination, several have much to do with the preservation of 

 the hidden treasures of the earth and the deep. They guard 

 these jealously, and diver and miner ever run the risk of excit- 

 ing their anger. 



Sir Thomas Brown in his " Hydrotaphia, or Urne Burial," 

 chapter II., p. 9, notices a Eoman urn preserved by Cardinal 

 Farnese, in which were found a crystal ball and six nuts of 

 crystal, three glasses and two spoons, besides a great number of 

 gems engraved with heads of gods and goddesses, an ape in 

 agate, and a grasshopper and an elephant of amber. Two other 

 urns which were discovered had ''a kind of opale in each, one 

 yet maintaining a bluish color. Some of these trinkets were 

 doubtless the dearest treasures of the deceased, in which they 

 took great delight when living, and were deposited with their 

 ashes by friends for use in the other world; or, perhaps, the de- 

 sire to remove from sight everything that, from its associations 

 with the departed, could awaken grief may have prompted this 

 action in some cases."' 



In the "Museum Brittanicum, being an exhibition of a great 

 variety of antiquities and natural curiosities belonging to that 

 noble and magnificent collection, the British Museum, illustrated 

 with curious prints and explanations of each figure, by John 

 and Andrew Van Kymsdyck, Folio, London, 1778," avc find 

 curious illustrations of our subject. Plate XVIII. , Fig. 5, page 

 46, is thus explained: "A round christal ball, exceedingly 

 brilliant, very often found in sepulchres — likewise an amulet." 

 . . . "Are often found in sepulchres with a variety of other 

 gems, etc., which they left with the dead as guardians of the 

 manes." Montfaucon ("Monumensde la Monarchic Fran^aise," 

 vol. I., p. 15) mentions the finding of a globe of crystal m the 

 monument of Childerick, and adds that in another sepulchre no 

 less than twenty balls of crystal were found. There are two 

 hundred and sixty-six pieces of rock-crystal in the Green Vaults 

 at Dresden, many of which were numbered among the treasures 

 of the Vaults and the Chamber of Art, before 1040. A large 

 part of the present collection was purchased by August the 

 Strong, in Italy, and cut by the renowned worker in crystal, G. 



