( 122 ) 
Hidgeway, before the Anthropological Section 'of 
the British Association, at the recent meetins' ab 
Southport: — 
MAGIC CONSIDERATIONS. 
Personal ornaments in civilised countries consist 
of precious metals, stones, or imitations of stones, 
pearls (which are the products of shells), or shells 
themselevs, amber, jet, and occasionally various 
other objects, such as tiger's claws, etc. It has 
hitherto been held that men and women were 
led by purely aesthetic considerations to adorn 
themselves with such objects ; but a little research 
into the history of such ornaments leads to a 
different conclusion. The fact is that mankind 
was led to wear such objects by .lagic rather 
than by seathetic considerations. The jewellery 
of primitive peoples consists of small stones with 
natural perforations, e.<7,, silicified spores or joints 
of conifierse or of substances easily perforated, such 
as amber, the seeds of plants, shells, the teeth 
and claws of animals, bones, or pieces of bon^s, 
pieces of wood of popular kinds. Later on they 
learned to bore hard stones, such as rock crystal, 
hematite, agate, garnet, etc., and to obtain the 
metals. 
CRYSTALS AND BEADS. 
•^^All peoples value for magical purposes small 
stones of peculiar form or colour long before they 
can wear them as ornaments ; e.g., Australians 
and tribei of New Guinea use crystals for rain- 
roaking, although they cannot bore them, and 
crystal is a powerful amulet in Uganda fastened 
into leather. Sorcerers in Africa carry a small 
bag of pebbles as an important part of their 
equipment. So was it in Greece. The crystal was 
used to light sacrificial fire, and was so employed 
ia the Church down to the fifteenth century. 
The Egyptian under the twelfth dynasty used it 
largely, piercing it along its axis after rubbing 
off the pyramidal points of the crystal, some- 
times leaving the natural six sides or else grinding 
it into a complete cylinder. From this bead came 
the artificial cylindrical beads made later by 
the Egyptians, from which modern cylindrical glass 
beads are descended. 
The beryl, a natural hexagonal prism, lent itself 
still more readily to the same form, e g,, the 
cylindrical beryl beads found in Rhodian tombs. 
BABYLONIAN CYLINDERS AND EGYPTIAN SCARABS, 
The Babylonian cylinders found without any 
engraving on them on the wrists of the dead 
in early Babylonian graves had a similar origin. 
It has been universally held that Babylonian 
cylinders, Egyptian scarabs and Nycenean gems 
were primarily signets ; but as the cylinders are 
found unengraved, and as many as live hundred 
scarabs are found on one mummy, and as My- 
cenan stones are often found without any engra. 
ving, it is clear that the primary use was not for 
signets bub for amulets. The Orphic Lithica 
gives a clear account of special the virtue of each 
stone, and ib is plain that they acted cUiefly 
by sympathetic magic ; e.g., green jasper and 
tree agates make the vegetation grow, etc. The 
Greeks and Asiatics used stones primarily as 
amulets, e.g., Mithridates had a whole cabinet of 
gems as antidotes to poison. To enhance the 
natural power of the stone a device was cut on 
it, e.g. the Abraxas cub on a green jasper, the 
special amulet of the Gnostics. The use of the 
stone for sealing was simply secondary and may 
have arisen first for sacred purposes. Shells are 
worn aa amulets by modern savages c.rf. cowries 
in Africa, where these or some other kind of shell 
were worn in Strabo's time to keep oS the 
evil eye. 
Eed coral was a potent amulet worn by tra- 
vellers by sea, as at the present day in Mediterranen 
lands, and if pounded up it kept red rust from 
corn. Pearls are a potent medicine in modern 
China. Seeds of plants are medicine everywhere ; 
for example, the ratti {Abrus precatoria)- 
is used in India for rosaries, and also in Africa, 
the Seed of wild banana is especially valued in 
Uganda, &c The claws of lions are A'orn as amu- 
lets ail through Africa, and are "great medicine," 
and imitations of them are made. So with teeth 
of jackals, which are imitated in wood if the real 
ones are not to be had, and boars' tusks in New 
Guinea. 
GOLD AND IRON. 
When gold becomes first known it is regarded 
exactly like the stones mentioned. Thus the 
Debse, an Arab tribe, who did not work gold, 
but had abundance in their land, used only the 
nuggets, stringing them for necklaces alternately 
with perforated stones. Magnetic iron and hema- 
tite were especially prized, the power of attraction 
in magnetic iron, as in the case of amber, causing a 
belief that there was a living spirit within. Hence 
iron in general was regarded with peculiar vene- 
ration, and nob because it was a newer metal, as 
is commonly stated. 
Ibis thus clear that the use of all the objects 
still employed in modern jewellery has primarily 
arisen from the magical powers attributed to them, 
by which they were thought to protect the wearer. 
— Journal of the Society of Arts, Sept. 25. 
THE PERADENIYA SATINWOOD 
BRIDGE. 
AN OMINOUS PROPHKSr 
Now that our redoubtable Lieut.-Col. E. C 
Davies of the Ceylon Light Infantry Volun- 
teers, in his civil capacity as Engineer of the 
Government Factory, has undertaken the 
demolition or rather removal of this historic 
bridge— and we hope his work may be com- 
pleted as successfully as we hope it will be 
expeditiously accomplished— the following 
interesting tradition is apropos and will no 
doubt be read with interest : — 
" The Kandian pretender [of 1848] worked 
upon the superstitious and religious feelings of 
his countrymen, causing himself to be 
Crowned King of Kandy by a priest, who 
stated to the Pretender's followers that they 
were fighting for the preservation of theii- 
religion ; and the first interrogatory put was, 
' Are you for the Buddhist religion, or for 
the Government ?' If any hesitated, the 
pi'iest would refer to the Kandian prophecy, 
or tradition, which is, that when a bridge 
should be built across the Mahaweliganga, 
Kandy should fall into the hands of foreig- 
ners, and the people of Ceylon be totally sub- 
dued ; but, when the bridge should begin to 
decay, then the Kandians would throw off 
the foreign Yoke, and Lanka-diva's sons be 
restored to their native monarchs, and pris- 
tine laws, driving the usurpers from their 
beloved shores !" 
The above extract is from a work entitl 
" Ceylon and the Ceylonese " published in 
1850, by Henry Charles Sirr, M,A., of 
