January and ending with September, we obtain the following results, speaking in general terms, but an inspection of the tables will furnish more minute particulars. (Vide, pp. 24-5.)

1832 was a season of backward spring, cool summer, moderate rain. 1834 in every particular the reverse. But in electric phenomena the greatest difference is discernable; and as much has been said and written upon the supposed connexion of such agencies with epidemics, the results of two years differing so materially in these two particulars are worthy of notice. The total number of days of thunder in the first nine months of 1832 was 10, in 1834 was 23, and the latter of much greater severity. As was before observed, so far was the cholera from being abated by these thunderstorms, that it seemed to rage more furiously. Miriam, who has been indefatigable in his meteorological researches, observes, "It is frequently remarked that lightning cools the air. Our records of lightning and our hourly records of temperature of the atmosphere, compared together, shew that a great majority of thunderstorms in summer are immediately followed by an increase of temperature." This coincides with our own experience of 1834, as was before observed.

In concluding this subject we may observe, that this year was of itself not only remarkable for electric phenomena, but was likewise ushered in by one of the most remarkable ever witnessed. I allude to the meteors of November, 1833. The weather previous had been mild and showery, and on the night of the 12th, and nearly to the dawn of day, the sky was illumined with millions of meteors, darting from the zenith to the horizon like sky-rockets, thick as the flakes of a snow-storm. In one instance a meteor exploded with considerable noise, leaving behind it a brilliant train of light which lasted some minutes. This splendid celestial exhibition was seen in North and South America and in the West Indies.

The following table, extracted from the New York Spectator, exhibits the ratio of deaths above the average for July, 1832:

of

We see from this statement that in the classes between the ages 20 and 60, the proportion swells twelve to sixteen times the mortality of average. In the classes beyond that age it sinks again to eight, and in children varies from 0 to 4. Cholera no doubt made the greatest havoc among the dissolute and intemperate. Few confirmed drunkards live beyond the age of sixty, and if the above calculations are reliable, the table above strongly confirms this opinion.

To conclude, whether this epidemic is independent or not of climate and its conditions, one thing is certain, both with respect to it and other diseases, that human agency is far more actively engaged than many are willing to admit. Experience of the past has abundantly testified that many evils which are man's heritage may be greatly aggravated or alleviated, and even the mortality which cannot be altogether averted may be signally diminished. Had the sanitary measures which are now in fashion, imperfect as they still are, been in existence in 1832; could some Hercules have purified that Augean stable, muddy York,-closed the groggeries, ventilated the dwellings, and applied all our modern disinfectionals of 1861,―the pestilence would have been stripped of much of its horrors, and many a valuable life would have been saved which was sacrificed to the neglect of those means of prevention which were in the reach of all.

NOTES ON LATIN INSCRIPTIONS FOUND IN BRITAIN. PART IX.

BY THE REV. JOHN M៰CAUL, LL.D.,

PRESIDENT OF UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, TORONTO.

57. The concluding article of Part VIII. was devoted to the examination of the simpler forms of inscription on the pigs of lead found in Britain. To the remarks, which have been offered there, it seems unnecessary to add more than the observation that those pigs exhibit

the three constructions, which were used in such inscriptions, viz. : the nominative, the genitive, and the ablative. In n. (2) TI · CLAVDIVS · CAESAR AVG · P.M TRIB · P.VIII. IMP. XVI DE· BRITAN, we have the nominative, indicating, as I think, that the object was taken as spoil in n. (8) IMP CAES DOMITIANO AVG COS VII. we have the* ablative indicating the time, scil. from September 13 to December 31, A.D. 81; and in n. (11) IMP · HADRIANI · AVG · and n. (12) IMP · DVOR· AVG · ANTONINI || ET· VERI · ARMENIACORVM we have the genitive, indicating that the blocks were the property of those emperors, being the produce of mines worked for their benefit. N. (7) IMP · DOMIT AVG · GER · DE · CEANG I have read in the nominative, conformably to the unquestionable construction of n. (2), whilst I have preferred regarding nn. (5 and 6) IMP · VESP· V:: TIMP III COS and IMP· VESP · VII TIMP V COS in the ablative, indicating the time, although the DE CEANG on their sides excited a doubt between that case and the nominative I shall now proceed to the consideration of the doubtful portions of the remaining inscriptions,‡ reserving for special

* Mr. Yates, in a valuable "Memoir on the mining operations of the Romans," Proceedings of Somersetshire Arch, and Nat. Hist. Society, Taunton, 1859, observes relative to this inscription: "I conceive that it should be read in the ablative case, Imperatore Cæsare Domitiano Augusto consule septimum. On this supposition the mine may have been worked by private hands." The first of these remarks is unquestionably correct: Domitiano, followed by Cos. VII., is certainly not the dative. The latter is probable, as it is questionable whether under the emperors any mines were worked except for their benefit, or that of the individuals who rented them.

Thus Mr. Yates, On the mining operations, &c., p. 2, observes." The retention of mines by government may account for the inscription found on pigs of lead, such as IMP. HADRIANI AVG, in the genitive case, showing that they belonged to the Emperor. In other instances the name of an individual, occurring in the genitive, shows that he rented his mine from the government, e. g., L' ARVCONI VERECVNDI. This implies that the lead was the property of Lucius Aruconius Verecundus." In article 48 I have noticed an inscription, having the name in the nominative, on a block, the product, as I believe, of a rented mine.

From Mr. Yates' Memoir, pp. 21, 22, 23, I learn that two pigs of the Emperor Severus, probably imported from Britain, have been found in France, one at Lillebonne, the ancient Julia Bona, and the other at Sassenay near Chalons-sur-Saone, not far from a Roman road, which led to the coast opposite Britain. On one of these are the inscriptions LVICVC and DL'P. M. Canat, President of the Historical and Archæological Society of Chalons, in a Memoir on the subject, does not attempt to interpret the first of these, but infers from the accent in the second, whereby L and P are separated, that the letters denote numbers, and thus interprets DL'P as meaning 550 pounds in weight, P standing, as is common, for Pondo. But as this does not at all correspond with the actual weight of the pig, he “ jectures that it [Pondo?] here denoted the semis or half-libra." In this way the marked and the actual weights agree within 2 kilogrammes and 8 hectogrammes, "the loss of which may very well be ascribed to accident, waste, or abrasion." There is no authority, so far as

con

notice n. (1) BRITANNIC**AVG II, and n. (9) CAESAR***** VADON, which are imperfect, also n. (4) NERONIS AVG-EX KIAN IIII COS BRIT, which is unique. These doubtful portions are (a) *LVT-in

(10) IMP CAES · HADRIANI · AVG · MET · LVT

(14) C⚫IVL PROTI · BRIT · LVT · EX · ARG · ;

(a) MET LVT ·--in n. 10; (a) METAL · LVTVD ·—in n.

(13) L·ARVCONI · VERECVNDI · METAL · LVTVD · ; (6) EX ARG-in nn. (1) and (14); and (c) TR and BR '—in D. (3).

(a) LVT, MET LVT, METAL LVTVD-As these readings seem to be unquestionably correct, I shall offer no criticism on the interpretations, which have been given, of erroneous readings, such as POT for LVT in n. (3), MEM· L · VI for MET · LVT in n. (10), and LVND for LVTVD in n. (13), but shall limit my remarks to the explanations, which have been proposed, of the readings as given above. Mr. Crane, Archæologia, xiii. 405, regards LVT. in n. (3) as standing for LVTVM, and reads the whole inscription thus: 'Ti[berii] Cl[audii] tr[ibutum] lut[um] Br[itannico] ex arg[ento]— the tribute of Tiberius Claudius paid out of British money."

Lysons, History of Derbyshire, p. ccvi., traces LVT and LVTVD to LVTVDARVM, the Roman Station mentioned by Ravennas as next to Derventio, and believed to be represented by the modern Chesterfield.

Mr. Bateman, Vestiges of the Antiquities of Derbyshire, p. 135, observes :

"These inscriptions, [nn. (3), (10), and (13)] have given rise to various conjectures, and accordingly to a great display of erudition; but if we allow the LVT and the LVTVD to be the contractions of LVTVDARVM, the name of a Roman station next in order, according to Ravennas, to Derventio, or Little Chester, and which is supposed to be Chesterfield, much of the difficulty will vanish. The first [n. (10)] will then be found to bear the name of the Emperor

I am aware, for the inference from the accent, nor for the use of P or Pondo as denoting the semis or half-libra. The accuracy of the readings seems to me very doubtful. Can it be that the letters given as LVICVC, are really LVT CANG?

• Dı. Thurnam, Historical Ethnology of Britain, p. 100, Cran. Brit., Dec. 3, mentions "the inscription LVTVM EX ARGENT on various British pigs of lead of the date of Claudius and his successors." There is no authority, so far as I am aware, for this statement; pigs have been found bearing LVT, LVT EX ARG, and EX ARGENT', but. there is no example either of LVTVM EX ARGENT, or of LVTVM alone.

Hadrian, in connexion with the name of the metallic district, of which it is probable that Chesterfield was then, as Wicksworth has subsequently been considered, the regulating town; hence this inscription would mean no more than that the block of lead upon which it was stamped belonged to the Emperor Cæsar Hadrian Augustus, from the metallic district of Lutudarum. The second [n. (13)] would, under a similar interpretation, be stamped with the name of its owner, a proprietor of some mines, perhaps, or a merchant, Lucius Aruconius Verecundus, with the addition, as before, of the name of the mining district. The third inscription [n. (3)] appears to mean that the lead upon which it is impressed formed part of the tribute due to Tiberius Claudius from the mines (silver or lead) of the British Lutudæ or Lutudarum. These interpretations [which were first suggested by Mr. Lysons and Mr. Crane] are by far the most conformable to custom and common sense."

The suggestion of Mr. Lysons has also been adopted by Sir Henry Ellis, Townley Gallery, ii. p. 290; Mr. Way, Jour. Arch. Inst., 1859, n. 61, p. 25; and apparently by Mr. Yates, Mining Operations, p. 10. Mr. C. R. Smith, Journal Arch. Assoc., v. p. 228, is of opinion that LUT is a contraction of LVTVM or LVITVM, signifying washed or purified; and he refers in illustration to the use of elutia in Plin. Hist. Nat. xxxiv. 16, where it is applied to the washing by water of tin from the vein in the gold mines of Spain and Portugal. Mr. Wright, Celt, Roman, and Saxon, p. 238, adopts this opinion as undoubtedly correct.

In favour of the interpretation received by Mr. Smith and Mr. Wright, may be cited the statement of Professor Phillips, whose authority on such points is justly esteemed of high value, that “he is strongly of opinion that much of the lead ore was collected from the surface by aid of water, artificially directed. The process, in fact, is described by Pliny, in terms so exactly applicable to the modern 'hushes' of Swaledale, that no doubt can remain of this custom, which is now esteemed rude and semi-barbarous, being of Roman or earlier date in Britain."- Ancient Metallurgy in Britain,' Journal Arch. Inst. 1859, n.61, p. 17.

As to MET there is no difference of opinion, all agreeing in tracing it to metallum.

(6) EX · ARG·—These letters are found, as we have already seen, in nn. (3) and (14), and an expansion of them appears on the side of the block, n. (4), in the form EX ARGENT. Mr. Pegge, Archæologia, ix. p. 45, read them ex argent[o], and regarded them as denoting that the silver had been extracted from the lead. He cites in