as thunderbolts (Donnerkeile or Thorskeile); and, on account of their valuable properties, are sometimes preserved in families for Hundreds of years. I possess a specimen from North Germany, on which is inscribed the date 1571, being probably the year in which it was discovered. The curious perforated axe or hammer found early in the last century, now preserved in the Museum of Antiquities at Upsala,[1] seems to have been a family treasure of the same kind. It bears upon it, in early Runes, an inscription thus interpreted by Professor Stephens—"Owns Oltha this Axe." Another, with four[2] Runic characters upon it, was found in Denmark, and it has been suggested that the letters on it represent the names of Loki, Thor, Odin, and Belgthor.[3] The appearance of the American inscribed axe from Pemberton,[4] New Jersey, described by my namesake. Dr. J. C. Evans, and published by Sir Daniel Wilson, is not calculated to inspire confidence in its authenticity.
The German belief is much the same as the Irish. Stone celts are held to preserve from lightning the house in which they are kept. They perspire when a storm is approaching; they are good for diseases of man and beast; they increase the milk of cows; they assist the birth of children; and powder scraped from them may be taken with advantage for various childish disorders. It is usually nine days after their fall before they are found on the surface.
In the ruins of a Cistercian nunnery, Martha's Hof, at Bonn,[5] a large polished celt of jadeite, like Fig. 52, was found, which had been presumably brought there as a protection against lightning. It had been placed in the roof of a granary.
In Bavaria[6] and Moravia[7] stone axes, whether perforated or not, are regarded as thunderbolts.
In Holland,[8] in like manner, they are known as donder-beitels, or thunder-chisels.
In Spain they are known as rayos or centellos, and are regarded as thunder-stones, while among the Portuguese[9]
- ↑ "Old Northern Runic Monuments," p. 205. Ant. Tidsskr., 1852-54, p. 258. Sjöborg, "Samlingar för Nordens Förnälskara," vol. iii. p. 163.
- ↑ Ant. Tidsskr., 1852-54, p. 8. Mem. de la Soc. des Ant. du Nord, 1850-60, p. 28.
- ↑ Arch. Journ., vol. xxv. p. 116.
- ↑ "Preh. Man," vol. ii. p. 185.
- ↑ Jahrb. d. V. v. Alth. am Rheinl., Heft lxxvii. 1884, p. 216, lxxix. 1885, p. 280.
- ↑ Arch. f. Anth., vol. xxii. 1894, Corr. Bl. p. 102.
- ↑ Mitth. d. Anth. Ges. in Wien, 1882, p. 159. Zeitsch. f. Eth., vol. xii. 1880, p. 252.
- ↑ Notes and Queries, 2nd S., vol. viii. p. 92.
- ↑ Tylor, "Early Hist. of Man.," p. 227.
