86 THE CURIOUS LORE OF PRECIOUS STONES
the ancient Egyptians. Another instance is offered by the custom of placing a piece of chalchihuitl (jade?)
or of some other green stone in the mouth of a noble, after his death,
and calling this his heart. Among the lower classes a texaxoctli, a
stone of small value, was used for the same purpose. "We shall see
tbat, in the Egyptian "Book of the Dead," directions are given for
putting a semi-precious stone on or in a mummy, as a symbol, and
designating this the heart of the deceased person. For the use of a
green stone for this purpose by the ancient Mexicans, Mrs. Zelia
Nuttall finds a reason in the two meanings of the Nahuatl word xoxouhqui-yollotl, which
is used to signify a "free man," the literal meaning being a "fresh or
green heart." Hence, the stone was a symbol of the rank of the deceased
as well as of his heart.71 The fact that jade celts have
been found cut into several pieces is taken to indicate the high value
placed upon this material; for it has been conjectured by Dr. Earle
Flint, that a living chief would cut a piece from the jade he wore as a
sign of his rank, in order to provide a suitable ornament or amulet for
a dead kinsman.
To certain of the Chinese "tomb-jades"—that is, jade amulets deposited with the dead—has been given the name hcm-yü, or
"mouth-jade," because these amulets, supposed to afford protection to
the dead, were placed in their mouths. The Metropolitan Museum of Art
in New York contains a fine collection of 279 specimens of jade from
Chinese tombs, found within the past five or six years, and presented
to the museum by Mr. Samuel F.
"Zelia
Nuttall, "The Fundamental Principles of Old and New World
Civilization," Cambridge, Mass., 1901, p. 195. Archaeological and
Ethnographical Papers of the Peabody Museum, Harvard University, vol.
ii.
