354
THE SEAS
provided .by the discovery, some years back, of a great
bronze shield studded with ve large pieces of coral, in the
bed of the river Witham in Lincolnshire.
Right down to the end of the eighteenth century, red
coral held a high place in the esteem of physicians and
gured largely in their prescriptions, but the increased
knowledge of chemistry and drugs nally showed that red
coral was just as valuable a medicine as powdered chalk,
of which it principally consists.‘ The only relie of its
original virtues which still lingers is the belief that it
-
assists children to cut their teeth, the origin of the still
prevalent custom of giving small children necklaces of
coral beads.
-
_
A black coral is also mentioned in ancient and classical
literature.
It was also believed to have great medicinal
virtues and was found in the Mediterranean and in the
‘
Red Sea
Persian Gulf.
It seems to have been the
black horny. Skeleton of Antipathes, a false coral very
closely allied to our sea fa'n,
Having no decorative value
this coral is nolonger used in Europe but bracelets and
other articles madeof- it are still worn in China, japan”,
the Malay Archipelago, and in the Indian Ocean, among
other things as a cure for rheumatism and as a safeguard
against drowning.'
’
.
-
_
ç
TURTLES_
,
_
Both as providerS of the .valuable “tortoise-shell ” of
commerce
and of meat which is either eaten or made into
the highly pri;ed turtle—soup, the turtles- are of value to
'
mankind,
Of the many kinds which inhabit'warm and
'
tropic seas, only a comparatively. few are of'commercial
importance.
Tortoise—shell (never produced by the true
tortoise, a land animal) is prepared from the plates which
-
cover the bony skeleton and. forma protection for the
THE SEAS
provided .by the discovery, some years back, of a great
bronze shield studded with ve large pieces of coral, in the
bed of the river Witham in Lincolnshire.
Right down to the end of the eighteenth century, red
coral held a high place in the esteem of physicians and
gured largely in their prescriptions, but the increased
knowledge of chemistry and drugs nally showed that red
coral was just as valuable a medicine as powdered chalk,
of which it principally consists.‘ The only relie of its
original virtues which still lingers is the belief that it
-
assists children to cut their teeth, the origin of the still
prevalent custom of giving small children necklaces of
coral beads.
-
_
A black coral is also mentioned in ancient and classical
literature.
It was also believed to have great medicinal
virtues and was found in the Mediterranean and in the
‘
Red Sea
Persian Gulf.
It seems to have been the
black horny. Skeleton of Antipathes, a false coral very
closely allied to our sea fa'n,
Having no decorative value
this coral is nolonger used in Europe but bracelets and
other articles madeof- it are still worn in China, japan”,
the Malay Archipelago, and in the Indian Ocean, among
other things as a cure for rheumatism and as a safeguard
against drowning.'
’
.
-
_
ç
TURTLES_
,
_
Both as providerS of the .valuable “tortoise-shell ” of
commerce
and of meat which is either eaten or made into
the highly pri;ed turtle—soup, the turtles- are of value to
'
mankind,
Of the many kinds which inhabit'warm and
'
tropic seas, only a comparatively. few are of'commercial
importance.
Tortoise—shell (never produced by the true
tortoise, a land animal) is prepared from the plates which
-
cover the bony skeleton and. forma protection for the