OON t do TN ~ 
which is given above, and which seems to 
me but natural, I have made all the re- 
searches in my power to ascertain the vir- 
tues attributed by the ancients to our wild 
Heliotrope, the Lucerne, and Blue Bottle, 
I could, however, detect nothing that was 
applicable to the depositing these seeds in 
the tomb; and if I regard them as used 
simply as seeds, I am unable to discover, 
among pagan writers, any circumstance 
which gives an allegorical or symbolical 
meaning to the custom. 
CHARLES Des MouriNs. 
Languais (Dordogne), 
Dec. 9, 1834. 
[I was the more interested in the above 
information respecting the vegetation of ™ 
seeds which had been found in ancient se- 
pulchres, from the circumstance, that at 
the time I received the volume of the 
Transactions containing it, I was favoured 
with a visit from the Rev. W. Burroughes 
of Hoveton Hall, Norfolk, who brought 
With him some living flowering plants of 
Centranthus ruber (Valeriana rubra o 
Linneus), which he had raised from seeds 
taken by himself from an ancient coffin 
dug up at Wymondham Abbey in that 
county. In order to be perfectly sure that 
the produce was from these identical seeds, 
Mr. Burroughes did not allow his gardener . 
to have the care of them, but sowed them 
71 pots, which were kept separately, under 
helon-frames, and the same plants inva- 
rably Sprung up, and no other. On his 
"MER into Norfolk he obligingly favoured 
me with the particulars contained in the 
following letter :— 
"y dear Sir, —I have sent you a small 
dua of the mixture from which the seed 
as taken that produced the specimens of 
“eta ruber, which I gave to you 
fo E R. In levelling the ground, 
erly the site of Wymondham Abbey, 
ee came upon a flag-stone co- 
lead rige grave, which contained two 
NS one large, NS very small. 
TV pening them, the small one was ob- 
found to be perfectly air-tight. Init was 
an envelope of linen cemented with 
INFORMATION RESPECTING SEEDS FOUND IN ROMAN TOMBS. 
299 
resin, This was opened, and on removing 
a considerable quantity of seed, &c. an- 
other ] e dis 
a quantity of coarse-grained muriate of 
soda, and fragments of odoriferous wood, 
was found a foetus of about the fourth 
month. It was from this mass that the 
small quantity herewith sent was taken.! 
The larger coffin was not air-tight, owing 
to there having been a hole broken in the 
upper part. This coffin contained the body 
of a young female, wrapped in folds of 
cere-cloth, and preserved with great care 
and expense. 'The body was very perfect, 
except in that spot where the coffin was 
broken. From the state of preservation it 
as in, it was easily discovered to be the 
ody of a young female, and from appear- 
ances, to be identified as the mother of the 
foetus contained in the smaller coffin. 
In regard to the probable date of the 
interment:—The abbey was founded in 
1107, by William de Albini, who died in 
1156. The spot where the coffins were 
found, was the middle of the choir, about 
eight feet from the East end, and conse- 
quently at the foot of the altar. 
The choir being under the especial care 
of the religious of the Establishment, it 
is highly improbable that they should al- 
ow any female to be buried in it, unless 
nearly allied to, or immediately descended 
from, the founder. This, together with 
e state of interment, the evident anti- 
quity, and the expense and care bestowed 
in the preservation of the body, leads to 
the conclusion, that the female was some 
near connexion of the founder, and buried 
about the middle of the twelfth century. 
I am sorry that I cannot offer you any 
more information respecting the finding of 
this seed, as very soon after the discovery 
of the coffins the work was stopped, 
nothing has been done to give a further 
clue to the date of interment. 
I am, my dear Sir, 
Yours very truly, 
Wu. BuRROUGHES.] 
Hoveton Hall, Oct. 11, 1836. 
! This consisted chiefly of the seeds of some Um- 
belliferous plant. 
and amonest 
? o 
aa 
ag 
