324 



Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



The next object (Plate XXI., fig. 8) is the vessel discovered by 

 Mr. E. J. Ussher, in the Newhall cave, County Clare, which is 

 mentioned by Father Power in his paper as somewhat resembling the 

 St. Columba chalice of Tory Island. This vessel is 2| inches high, 

 5| inches in diameter at the top, and has a cavity at the top 1^ inch 

 deep, while on the under side, as shown in fig. 8a, there is a small 

 cavity about 1 inch deep. This vessel still retains the deposit of 

 soot within the cup which it had upon it when Mr. Ussher discovered 

 it. It has a plain ornament of a band round its centre. The in- 

 ference of the charcoal is obvious, and the small cavity on the under 

 side may have been used to fix the lamp on a stick to raise the light. 



Fig. 9 of the plate, also in the Museum, is quite plain; it is 

 3J inches high, 3| inches in diameter, and has only one cavity at 

 the top, 1 inch in depth. It weighs 3 lb. 3^ oz., and was found 

 at Dowth, in the late passage and chambers of which pins of the 

 Danish period were found ; so that it probably had no connexion 

 with the original use of the tumulus. 



Therefore, no very early date or extraordinary use can be assumed 

 for our stone vessel on account of its " provenance." Compare it with 

 Plate XXI., fig. 10, which is an illustration of a worked stone lamp 

 from the ICadiak Island, figured in the "Lamp of the Eskimo," by 

 Walter P. Hough, plate xx, fig. 1. This paper is printed in the 

 Journal of the Smithsonian Institution of 1898. 



The general similarity between the two objects may, perhaps, help 

 us to the idea that both vessels were intended for the same purpose. 



As a note, by way of conclusion, I would like to point out tliat 

 the worked stone lamp has played an important part in the history 

 of artificial lighting, as the vessel of transition between the torch and 

 the lamp of the inventive and modern type. 



After the stone lamp comes the terra-cotta saucer, and the closed-in 

 Roman pottery or bronze lamps. Then comes the old-fashioned brass 

 lamp or cruse, mounted on a standard, with a kind of protruding 

 spout and drip-dish ; and after it other forms of metal lamps from 

 which the modern lamp is directly derived. 



Moreover, at the present time a great part of mankind still use 

 the stone or pottery saucer-lamp. And I may also mention the 

 scallop-shells used as lamps in the Aran Islands ; the stone lamp 

 among the Eskimos, South Sea Islanders, and the Indians of the 

 IS'ortli-west of Canada ; while the pottery saucer-lamp is used in 

 China and India, 



