92 Sliills as evidence -of the Migrations. 



pass either of these substances, the s[)eciai si<^nificHnco 

 and auspicious nature of the chank inspiring tlie confi- 

 dence of patients in the vakie of this medicine." 



The superstitious reverence paid \o these while shells 

 b)' the Hindus and (jtlier oriental people, recalls the 

 reverence paid by the Greeks and Romans to snails and 

 other shells. The internal pearl)'-like shell of some ot 

 tlie slugs was believed by them to be higlilx- efficacious in 

 the cure of fevers, cfiseases of the head ov licadaches 

 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 remedx' for diseases of the 

 eyes.''' According to Humboldt,'"' similar worn fragments 

 of shell, known as " eye-stones" [piedras de los ojos), were 

 regarded by tlie inhabitants of Ara)^a, Venezuela, S. 

 America, as possessing extraordinary powers in the ex- 

 pulsion of foreign particles accidentally introduced into 

 the eye. Kunz'" also records that " e}-e-stones or o[)thalme 

 are taken from the crawfish in the Sandv-'ich Islands. 

 They have been used from time immemorial for removing 

 dust or other particles from the eye." These "eye-stones " 

 are probabU- the so-called "crab-stones " or " crab's-e}-es,'' 

 the concretions of carbonate of lime, developed on cither 

 side of the stomach in the loljsters, crayfish, etc., l)eforc 

 the time of moulting. 



•''■' See Iloinell's inieresiini; woi k on "Tlic .Sacied ('hank of India," 

 Madras Fisheries Bulletin, No. 7, 1914, especially Clia]). iii. 



'•'■ I'liny, "N. 11.," hk. xxix., ch. 36. 



"' Jolinslon, "An Introduction to Concliology," Lonckm, 1N50, [). 78. 



'■- Ilnniholdt, " Per.s. Narrative," i., p. 197 (Bohn's I'.d. ). 



"•■' (i. I'". Kun/,, " Folk-lore of IVecious Stones." Mrnioiis IiiUtnat. 

 Congr. Aii/ltiop., Ciiicago, 1S04, 1'- 273. 



