TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION D. — DEPT. ANTHROPOLOGY. 397 



another by a descent of several feet into the body of a small church. On the spine 

 of the least molested one had been a tumulus in which, the cure of the church 

 informed him, had been found several of the most primitive incinerary urns, con- 

 taining- bones, Celtic articles, and above these, objects of the Gallo-Romano 

 description, and again above these, later or Christian Roman works. One of the 

 most interesting of the latter had been laid aside, and the cure sought it out for 

 Dr. Phene amongst some debris ; it was the stem of an ancient cross, and on it 

 were sculptured serpents — not in the usual position of subjection to a superior 

 power, but evidently as being in a condition of supremacy ; but as there were also 

 several dead ones represented, it might be that the sculpture figured the condition 

 of the real serpents before and after the ceremony of burning. Everything in the 

 district was emblematic of the serpent or dragon, and the mounds were distinctly 

 of such a form. On the mountains overlooking these mounds were a number of 

 stone circles, like those so well known in Britain. The description of these and 

 further details he reserved to meet a request, made by the representatives of the 

 American Congress at Brussels, to read a paper on the mounds of Europe. In this 

 last discovery he had the advantage of having some members of the British 

 Archaeological Association present with him, who also identified the exact resem- 

 blance of the mounds with life-like animal forms. 



9. Evidence of Early Historic Events and Pre-historic Customs by perpetua- 

 tion of design in art and manufactures in later, and even in present, times. 

 By Dr. PhenS, F.8.A., F.G.S. 



The author admitted, in the outset, the difficulty of the subject, which he 

 thought had not yet been opened. The sources of information were few, and the 

 researches were consequently not to be pursued continuously, but caught up in 

 other investigations as they occurred. He thought a large amount of matter was 

 dormant in the hands of other inquirers, which, when a distinct channel was given 

 to it, would arise in discussion and be found of great interest. As the further we 

 go back in time the more difficult it is to identify causes or to determine events, he 

 proposed to give such evidence as he had collected inversely, and beginning at the 

 present to work gradually into the past, as by investigating familiar and existing 

 examples, the more remote might, when brought forward, appear less confused by 

 the mists of time. 



He selected first the works of ordinary artizans, and took as an example the 

 carpenter and joiner of the present day. He pointed out that in Western Europe 

 all their ordinary work was made in a rectangular maimer ; ordinary doors and 

 windows, for instance, were shown not only to be so formed, but designs and 

 sections alike always produced that which the artizan never contemplated as a part 

 of his work, but which he unthinkingly perpetuated from his forefathers, viz., the 

 emblem of the faith of Europe — the Cross. It would not do to say this was the 

 residt of the simplest mode of construction, because in Asia, and even in Eastern 

 Europe, it was argued with the same persistency that a curve was not only the 

 most beautiful, but the easiest and simplest form of construction. Of course, the 

 force of habit is great, and the artizan working continually in curved work finds it 

 much easier than one only accustomed to the square. But the work in India, 

 whether in plain solid work, such as had been taken as an example for Europe, or 

 the delicate metal work, was always curved or interlaced ; and the old religion of 

 India was that of the serpent. In Persia the circular was always contending with 

 the curved and the undulating design, and the contending religions there were the 

 sun and serpent. In Turkey the designs, as for instance of the dome of a mosque, 

 were formed of a series of crescents by omitting the intermediate ones of which 

 separate crescents existed, which appeared hardly capable of producing the design. 

 Every Turkish article, even to the oar and scimitar, was formed of more than one 

 crescent, and the Christian sword was as great a contrast as the French window. 

 Gothic and Byzantine work had been introduced among the artizans of Europe, 

 but it had failed to grow upon the soil, and was clearly exotic. The author gave 

 evidence that these arts were introduced by the Templars, the most cultivated 



