720 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XV] II. No. 4(i(i. 



Monmouthshire.' This is the site of the 

 ancient Venta Silurum. The external walls 

 of the city are still clearly traceable, form- 

 ing a rectangle of about 500 by 400 yards, 

 and, on the south side, preserved to a 

 height of some 20 feet. The buildings thus 

 far brought to light consist chiefly of pri- 

 vate houses, and some of these present a 

 ground plan which appears to be unique in 

 England, having the rooms arranged round 

 all four sides of a rectangular courtyard. 



The Roman sites described by Mr. Gar- 

 stang, at Brough and Ribchester respect- 

 ively, were of a different character, both 

 being fortifications. That at Brough in 

 Derbyshire belongs to the earlier class, and 

 was built probably under Hadrian or An- 

 toninus Pius. The Roman fortress Bremet- 

 tenacum, at Ribchester, has been known 

 since archeological records began to be kept 

 in Britain. Recent excavations show that 

 this station conformed with the general 

 scheme of frontier defenses of the Roman 

 Empire. It was one of the series of for- 

 tresses 'which, with the wall of Hadrian, 

 formed the northern frontier defenses of 

 Roman Britain.' On Saturday, set apart 

 by the British Association as excursion day, 

 Mr. Garstang conducted a party of ninety- 

 five to Ribchester. 



The two papers on American archeology 

 were 'A West Indian Aboriginal Wooden 

 Image,' by Dr. J. E. Duerden, and 'The 

 Ancient Monuments of Northern Honduras, 

 and the Adjacent Parts of Yucatan and 

 Guatemala, with some Account of the 

 Former Civilization of these Regions and 

 the Characteristics of the Races now In- 

 habiting Them, ' by Dr. T. W. Gann. Miss 

 A. A. Bulley presented ' Some Points about 

 Crosses, chiefly Celtic,' and Mr. Annan- 

 dale discussed 'The Survival of Primitive 

 Implements in the Faroes and Iceland.' 



Personal ornaments among civilized 

 peoples consist of precious metals and 

 stones or imitations of stones, pearls or 



shells themselves, amber, jet and occasion- 

 ally various other objects. It has been 

 supposed, hitherto, that purelj^ esthetic 

 considerations led to the use of such ob- 

 jects for purposes of adornment. Pro- 

 fessor W. Ridgeway, in 'The Origin of 

 Jewelry,' endeavored to prove that such 

 was not the case. He attributes their use 

 to magic. 



Small stones of peculiar form, color nr 

 properties were considered magical long 

 before they were worn as ornaments. In 

 Australia and New Guinea, crystals are 

 used for rain-making, although the natives 

 can not perforate them for u.se as orna- 

 ments. In Uganda these same rock crys- 

 tals are fastened into leather and carried 

 as amulets. In Africa, the sorcerer carries 

 a small bag of pebbles as an essential part 

 of his equipment. Modern cylindrical glass 

 beads are descended from the beryl and 

 quartz crystal. Babylonian cylinders. 

 Egyptian scarabs and MyeeuEean gems 

 were not, as has been generally supposed, 

 primarily signets, but amulets. "The 

 Orphic Lithica gives a clear account of the 

 special virtue of each stone, and it is plain 

 that they acted chiefly by sympathetic 

 magic; e. g., green jasper and tree agates 

 make the vegetation grow, etc. Mithri- 

 dates had a whole cabinet of gems as anti- 

 dotes to poison. To enhance the natural 

 power of the stone, a device was cut on it, 

 e. g., the Abraxas cut on a green jasper, 

 the special amulet of the Gnostics. The 

 use of the stone for sealing was simply 

 secondary, and may have arisen first for 

 sacred purposes." Cowrie shells are worn 

 as amulets by the modern savages in Af- 

 rica; similar shells were worn in Strabo's 

 time to keep off the evil eye. Red coral was 

 a potent amulet to the seafarer, as it is at 

 the present day in Mediterranean lands. 

 If powdered, it kept red rust from grain. 

 Pearls are still a potent medicine in China. 

 Seeds of plants have magic properties, the 



