Armstrong — Stone Chalices, so called. 



323 



attach some virtue to it. The name of chalice might easily be given to 

 a vessel of this shape, and so a tradition would be created, such as 

 happened in the case of the stone vessel called St. Columba's chalice, 

 on Tory Island, and described by Father Power in his paper, page 144. 



An examination of this object, fig. 4, reveals two points to be 

 noticed — (1) the bottom of the vessel is so uneven, that it will hardly 

 stand by itself, leaning much on one side when it does ; (2) that one 

 side as shown in fig. 4a is flattened, no doubt for the purpose of fixing 

 it against the wall. 



The so-called paten, if originally belonging to this vessel, is 

 evidently a cover used as an extinguisher, and as a protection 

 to husband the oil or fat when the lamp was not in use. It is 

 made of very hard stone, and may have been used as a lamp itself, 

 as it fits, if reversed, into the top of the large vessel, and could have 

 been used as the actual receptacle for the oil or fat. Compare the large 

 vessel, fig. 4, with fig. 1 in the text, which is a drawing of a stone 

 lamp brought back from the Hawaiian Islands by Sir Thomas Grattan 

 Esmonde. Observe that in this lamp, which is 3^ inches high, and 

 3i inches in diameter, tliere is the same kind of shape, and the same 

 concave cavity, in this case about 1^ inch deep. The similarity is 

 very striking. 



My next illustration, Plate XXI., fig. 6, is also in the Academy 

 collection in the Museum (Petrie Collection). It is 7 inches high, 

 5^ inches in diameter at one end, and 4^ inches at the other. It is 

 hollowed out at each end, and is shaped like a dice-box. It has a 

 slight ornamentation at each end and in the centre. It weighs 7 lb. 

 3 J ounces. It was found in 1848 in sinking the foundation of a well 

 adjoining the ancient church of Ardmulchon, Co. Meath. The weight 

 of this vessel, though excellent from the point of view of the steadiness 

 necessary in a lamp, must have been, to say the least of it, very 

 inconvenient in a chalice. It should be compared with fig. 2 in the 

 text, which is a drawing of a similar vessel, dug up some years ago 

 on Sir Thomas Grattan Esmonde's demesne at Ballynastragh, Gorey, 

 County Wexford. 



This vessel, which Sir Thomas Esmonde kindly lent me for exami- 

 nation, is similar in shape, and has the same concave cavity at each 

 end. It is 6^ inches high, with a diameter at each end of 5|- inches. 

 The cavity at one end is i of an inch, and f of an inch at the other. 

 Sir Thomas calls his stone vessel an Irish stone lamp ; and I almost 

 think, without being too rash, we may consider fig. 6 as having been 

 originally intended for a stone lamp. 



