DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9697#0349
AT CHIOS. 285
the water in the bogge so very shallow, and the earth not
sinuous."
Dr. Covel's remarks on the sacred earth of Lemnos arc
particularly valuable, as this is one of the clearest instances
of a pagan superstition being carried on through the influ-
ence of Christianity down to our own times. Pliny men-
tions it {Hist. Nat., 29, 5); also Dioscorides {De Mater.
Med., 5, 113); and Galen made an expedition to Lemnos
on purpose to see it, and gives us an account of it {De
Simpl. Med., 9, 2, vol. xii). He mentions the disorders for
•which it was considered beneficial ; he also gives us the
ceremonies and mode of operation ; on certain occasions a
priestess of Artemis came, and, after certain rites, carried off
a cartload to the city ; she mixed it with water, kneaded
it, and strained off both the moisture and gritty particles,
and, when it was like wax, she impressed it with the seal of
Artemis. During the Middle Ages, the reputed virtues of
this earth remained unimpaired as a remedy for the plague.
Belon saw it in the sixteenth century {Observations de
plusicitrs singulaires, p. 51). Here we have Dr. Covel's
account of it in the seventeenth century. Conze was able
to buy specimens of it in 1858 ; but Dr. Tozer, who visited
Lemnos three years ago, writes of it as an expiring super-
stition. In that year only twelve persons were present at
the ceremony ; and the Turkish governor, seeing so small
a prospect of revenue, has ceased to be present in person.
Dr. Tozer could not even obtain a specimen in a chemist's
shop ; but the superstitious in remote parts of the island
still use it.
Proceeding from Lemnos, the Alloy went to Chios,
where Dr. Covel gives us an account of the silk-trade
carried on there, and the growth of the mastic, and the
avanias thereon imposed by the Turkish Government.
" The poor sort of Greek women dayly scold and quarrel].
the water in the bogge so very shallow, and the earth not
sinuous."
Dr. Covel's remarks on the sacred earth of Lemnos arc
particularly valuable, as this is one of the clearest instances
of a pagan superstition being carried on through the influ-
ence of Christianity down to our own times. Pliny men-
tions it {Hist. Nat., 29, 5); also Dioscorides {De Mater.
Med., 5, 113); and Galen made an expedition to Lemnos
on purpose to see it, and gives us an account of it {De
Simpl. Med., 9, 2, vol. xii). He mentions the disorders for
•which it was considered beneficial ; he also gives us the
ceremonies and mode of operation ; on certain occasions a
priestess of Artemis came, and, after certain rites, carried off
a cartload to the city ; she mixed it with water, kneaded
it, and strained off both the moisture and gritty particles,
and, when it was like wax, she impressed it with the seal of
Artemis. During the Middle Ages, the reputed virtues of
this earth remained unimpaired as a remedy for the plague.
Belon saw it in the sixteenth century {Observations de
plusicitrs singulaires, p. 51). Here we have Dr. Covel's
account of it in the seventeenth century. Conze was able
to buy specimens of it in 1858 ; but Dr. Tozer, who visited
Lemnos three years ago, writes of it as an expiring super-
stition. In that year only twelve persons were present at
the ceremony ; and the Turkish governor, seeing so small
a prospect of revenue, has ceased to be present in person.
Dr. Tozer could not even obtain a specimen in a chemist's
shop ; but the superstitious in remote parts of the island
still use it.
Proceeding from Lemnos, the Alloy went to Chios,
where Dr. Covel gives us an account of the silk-trade
carried on there, and the growth of the mastic, and the
avanias thereon imposed by the Turkish Government.
" The poor sort of Greek women dayly scold and quarrel].