A MODERN TALISMAN
A curious modern
talisman is a splendid specimen of artistic jewellery exhibited at the
Paris Salon; this talisman cleverly combines artistic merit with a dash
of African magic. It is a slender bracelet composed of interlaced
spirals of oxidized silver and gold; around the circlet is twined a
hair taken from an elephant. Among the tribesmen of the Sudan the hairs
of this animal are believed to be endowed with great talismanic virtue;
indeed, they enjoyed a similar repute among the ancient Romans.
Whether this belief was due to the idea that the wearer of the hair was
assured a mighty protection, typified by the enormous strength of the
elephant, or whether to the fact that the elephant was with some
peoples a divine symbol, we cannot easily determine.*
FOSSIL TUSKS
The
writer, on closely examining some of the fossil tusks from the Lena
River, Siberia, found what was evidently a mineral resulting from a
decomposition of the mammoth tusks in the form of deposits of a whitish
crystalline substance. When tested by Prof. William E. Ford, of the
Sheffield Scientific School, Yale University, this was pronounced to be
struvite, a hydrous phosphate of ammonium and mag-
*George Frederick Kirnz, "The Magic of Jewels and Charms," Philadelphia and London, 1915, p. 375.
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