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Ch. 13: Addenda

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ADDENDA
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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Ch. 12: Commerce of Ivory Page of 681 Ch. 13: Addenda
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