J 



ADE 



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handy and valuable instruments as these 

 jade celts? 



Lengthy discussions were waged as 

 to how this ' ' venerable witness to the 

 brotherhood and intercommunication of 

 the human race" first found its way 

 into Europe, and the famous ' ' nephrite 

 question ' ' long divided European sci- 

 entists. By many it was insisted that 

 jade implements were brought by migra- 

 tory tribes from the cradle of their race 

 in Asia, the perfect fitness of the mate- 

 rial to the uses to which it was put, as 

 well as the inherent preciousness of the 

 stone, rendering such instruments of 

 sufficient value to be prized and pre- 

 served throughout the many genera- 

 tions who lived and died ere the long- 

 march ended. 



Other investigators held that jade 

 •celts, or the material for making them, 

 were objects of actual commerce be- 

 tween Europe and the Orient ; but Sir 

 John Lubbock considers it more prob- 

 able that thej r were passed from hand 

 to hand and tribe to tribe by a system 

 of primeval barter. As a parallel case, 

 he cites the*tumuli of the Mississippi 

 Valley, where the same mound often 

 contains copper from Lake Superior, 

 mica from the Alleghanies, shells from 

 the Gulf, and obsidian from Mexico. 



The discovery of jade implements in 

 Swiss lake villages followed long after 

 their occurrence in a stone tomb in 

 Normandy, in caves in Brittany and at 

 Mentone, in the tumulus of Mont St 

 Michel, and in southern Italy. Schlie- 

 mann found thirteen jade celts in the 

 ruins of ancient Troy. One of these 

 celts and one other found in Crete are 

 the only white celts so far found in 

 Europe. The British Museum possesses 

 one Babylonian cylinder of jade, and 

 also a gold necklace with a small jade 

 celt as a pendant. Both faces of the 

 pendant are occupied by Gnostic for- 

 mulse engraved in Greek characters. 

 The formulce are cut in the outline of a 

 wreath of fourteen leaves, the ends 



being tied together with four ribbons, 

 on which are engraved different combi- 

 nations of the Greek vowels, while each 

 leaf is emblazoned with a holy name. 

 The other face of the celt is covered 

 with an inscription in eight lines. This 

 celt, which is supposed to have come 

 from Alexandria and, judging from the 

 character of the lettering, to date from 

 the third or fourth century, is the onlj- 

 known specimen of jade bearing indis- 

 putable marks of either Greek or Roman 

 workmanship. It was a celt originally, 

 however, and not an object of Greek 

 manufacture. 



There is no ancient name for jade in 

 any European language. Its name is 

 derived from the Spanish pietra de 

 hijada, "stone of the loins," a refer- 

 ence, doubtless, to the Aztec supersti- 

 tion that jade was the surest protection 

 against diseases of the loins. 



Jade has been known to the Chinese 

 since the earliest times as Vic, or " the 

 gem. ' ' They class the different kinds 

 of jade under seventy-seven heads, but 

 for the mineral itself they have no dis- 

 tinct, generic name. It is the typical 

 precious stone, the gem. Throughout 

 every age they have attached an extra- 

 ordinary value to it, comparing it to 

 " the subtle matter of the rainbow con- 

 creted and fixed under the form of a 

 stone," and regarding it as the most 

 beautiful substance in which human 

 thought can embody itself. Confucius 

 explained this by telling one of his dis- 

 ciples that ' ' in the eyes of wise men its 

 polish and its brilliancy represent virtue 

 and humanity, and its perfect compact- 

 ness and extreme hardness the safe- 

 guards of intelligence ; the angles of 

 jade, which, seeming sharp yet do not 

 cut, represent justice ; the little buttons 

 which hang from the hat or belt, as if 

 about to fall, represent ceremony and 

 politeness ; the sound — pure, sustained, 

 and prolonged — which it gives forth 

 when struck and which ceases suddenly, 

 represents music ; the impossibility for 



