g2 Shells as evidence of the Migrations. 
pass either of these substances, the special significance 
and auspicious nature of the chank inspiring the confi- 
dence of patients in the value of this medicine.” 
The superstitious reverence paid to these white shells 
by the Ilindus and other oriental people, recalls the 
reverence paid by the Greeks and Romans to snails and 
other shells. The internal pearly-like shell of some of 
the slugs was believed by them to be highly efficacious in 
the cure of fevers, diseases of the head or headaches. 
The granular substance representing the shell in some 
species was also believed to facilitate teething if suspended 
from the necks of infants.” In the same category are to be 
included the worn fragments of shells, or “ snail-stones,” 
which were formerly much commended in Guernsey and 
the Highlands of Scotland as a remedy for diseases of the 
eyes.” According to Humboldt,” similar worn fragments 
of shell, known as “ eye-stones”’ (pzedras de los ojos), were 
regarded by the inhabitants of Araya, Venezuela, S. 
America, as possessing extraordinary powers in the ex- 
pulsion of foreign particles accidentally introduced into 
the eye. Kunz" also records that “ eye-stones or opthalme 
are taken from the crawfish in the Sandwich Islands. 
They have been used from time immemorial for removing 
dust or other particles from the eye.” These “ eye-stones ” 
are probably the so-called “ crab-stones ” or “ crab's-eyes,” 
the concretions of carbonate of lime, developed on either 
side of the stomach in the lobsters, crayfish, etc., before 
the time of moulting. 
*® See Hornell’s interesting work on ** The Sacred Chank of India,” 
Madras Fisheries Bulletin, No. 7, 1914, especially Chap. iii. 
*° Pliny,‘ N. H.,”: bk. £xix., ch. 36. 
*! Johnston, ‘* An Introduction to Conchology,” London, 1850, p. 78. 
*? Humboldt, ** Pers. Narrative,” i., p. 197 (Bohn’s &d.). 
** G. VF. Kanz, ** Folk-lore of Precious Stones,” Memoirs /nternat, 
Congr. Anthrop., Chicago, 1894, p. 273. 
