136 REPORT— 1869. 



especially in the periodical overflow of many of its rivers, it resembles Egypt. 

 Starting from Arica on the coast, in lat. 18° 27'"5, the railroad passes over 39 

 miles, to the town of Tacna, which is on the high road to the Cordilleras and 

 Bolivia. This is now a tree-less waste of sand, which sparkles with myriads of 

 hexagonal crystals of salt ; indeed scarcely a blade of grass is to be seen. Yet it 

 was formerly known as " the Forest of San Juan de Dios ;" and no doubt trees 

 were abundant, where now the traveller sees the mirage everj' day of the year. 



At various times there have been found near the mummified bodies, in the 

 graves at Arica, small hemispherical objects of amber-looking matter; and occa- 

 sionally they have been found in the eye-holes of the skulls. These objects have 

 naturally been supposed to be human eyes ; but as they have become completely 

 solidified or hardened, they have been called incorrectly "petrijied human eyes." 



Such being the simple facts of the case, I give the only theories which are 

 known on the subject, in the hope of eliciting some final decision, on the best 

 evidence, as to what the objects really are. 



1st. That they are hand fide human eyes. 



2nd. That they are the eyes of fishes. Dr. MacDowell of Taboga, near Panama, 

 says, " The substance is evidently organic, but in no other way has it any atfiuity 

 with the human eye. With the difi'erence that the striated lines run transverse 

 instead of radial, it exactly resembles the eye of the shark. I lately made a dis- 

 section of one of these eyes, and hardened the lens in acetic acid, and it assumed 

 almost the exact appearance. I feel sure that they are the eyes of some similar 

 animal ; but it is a question for the microscope and for comparative anatomy.'' 



3rd. That they are the crystalline lenses of a Cephalopod, as shown on the 

 authority of Professors Clift and Owen, and Mr. Bowman. 



4th. That they are vegetable matter, not animal. 



Extract of a Letter from Dr. C, M. Tidy, of Cambridge Heath, Hackney : — 



" When I received the eye, I showed it to my colleague. Dr. Letheby, as well 

 as to the Professor of Comparative Anatomy at our hospital. We were all agreed 

 in this — that it was not a human eye, nor was it the eye of an animal at all. Dr. 

 Letheby's impression at once was (and I perfectly agree with him) that it is a 

 resinoid exudation from some tree ; and this I proved further by analysis. The 

 form is at once explained by this, the concentric laminae also ; and the various 

 colours that are apparent may be explained by tlie length of time that elapsed 

 between the exudation of one lamina and another, and the amount of oxidation it 

 would undergo. I have myself no hesitation in stating that it is a vegetable and 

 not an animal substance." 



To the last of these theories there is the obvious objection, that no such drip- 

 ping of gum is known, and in a district almost wholly destitute of vegetation 

 there is no tree to yield it. The second and third are open to a moral objec- 

 tion, viz. that the pagan Indian always regarded the future life as the repetition 

 of this one, with slight varieties ; and why should he represent a foreign body as 

 performing the functions of a natm-al part ? The living would not attach to the 

 dead the teeth of oxen or the leg of a mule. The opinion that they are human 

 eyes is less extensively and less confidently held than formerly ; but the whole 

 subject still requires a more thorough investigation. 



Notes on the Race Elements of the Irish People. 

 By G. Henet Kinahan, M.R.I.A. 6fc. 



The author called attention to the various and numerous different races that from 

 the earliest period up to the reign of William III. came in masses into Ireland. 

 He took Co. Galway as an example, as it is believed to be one of the most Irish parts 

 of Ireland, and showed that nearly all the families in it are of foreign extraction. 

 He pointed out that in the hills of West Galway (Varconnaught), although the 

 worst land in Ireland, nearly all the inhabitants are of English descent, their an- 

 cestors being brought in at a comparatively recent date by the Martins, &c., to re- 

 generate the country ; the country, however, conquered, as their descendants became 

 so degenerate that the famous Colonel Martin had to get a law passed to prevent 

 them ploughing with the horses harnessed by their tails. 



The author stated that he believed no real type-Celt can now be found, as people 



