130 



of Lanzi, in his Saggio di Lingua Etrusca, both of which, 

 he stated, were unsatisfactory, far-fetched, and absurd. 



Mr. Samuel Ferguson read the first part of a paper " on 

 the Antiquity of the Kiliee, or Boomerang," the object of 

 which was to show, that the peculiar characteristics of that 

 instrument belonged to the cate'ia and aclys of the Latin 

 classic writers, the latter being, most prohably, identical with 

 the ancyle of the Greeks. 



The chief proofs in the case of the cateia turned, 1st, on 

 the epithet panda applied to it by Silius Italicus, (Punic. 

 1. iii. v. 278,) and, 2nd, on the description of it given by 

 Isidore, a writer of the end of the sixth and beginning of 

 the seventh century, who states concerning it, "Si ab artifice 

 mittatur rursiim redit ad eum qui misit." (Origin. 1. xviii. 

 c. 7.) 



The chief proofs in the case of the aclys, rested, 1st, on 

 the identification of the aclys and cateia, by Servius (in 

 iEneid. 1. vii. v. 730, 741) ; 2nd, on an inference of its semi- 

 lunar shape, drawn from Valerius Flaccus, (Argonaut. 1. vi. 

 v. 99) ; and 3rd, on the statement of Sidonius Appollinaris, 

 a writer of the fifth century, who, referring, as it would ap- 

 pear, to these weapons, describes them as missiles, "qua? 

 feriant bis missa semel." (Carm. V. v. 402.) 



The identity of the aclys and ancyle was inferred from 

 their apparent etymological relation, and from the statement 

 of the Scholiast on Euripides — ajKvXai ra aKovria, airo tov 

 tTrrjjKvXiaadai, (Euripid. Orest. v. 1479). 



An investigation of the radical meanings of these names 

 confirmed the testimonies adduced, by showing that each 

 was properly descriptive of a curved instrument. 



The statement of Isidore, that the cateia and club of 

 Hercules were the same, was, in like manner, confirmed by 

 an investigation of the radical meaning of the word clava, and 

 by the exhibition of drawings of curved clavse (almost identi- 



