Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 1.djvu/370

352 The third specimen is exactly such a piece as must be placed in the lathe for the formation of a bead, like that found at Durnovaria. A comparison between these pieces and the specimens of Coal Money and beads, can leave scarcely a doubt of the origin.

It may indeed be said that the material is ill fitted for the construction of armlets, because of its fragile nature; but the fact is established in the above instances, that such rings have been found, and have been used as armlets; and there are also other instances of a somewhat similar material having been appropriated to the same purpose in the other extremity of the island. An armlet of precisely similar form and dimensions to those discovered at Durnovaria, has been found in Scotland, and is figured in the volume of "Transactions of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland." This bracelet, with other ornaments, was formed of "cannel coal," a material somewhat similar to the Kimmeridge shale. A difficulty may also, at first sight, appear in the depth at which these articles have been found beneath the surface, and which would seem to imply a purposed depositure by inhumation. But it is remarkable that they are generally found in unbroken pasture ground, where no trace of any disturbance of the soil is to be observed. By what means, then, were they buried at the depth at which they are now found? The problem is of easy solution. These pieces of "Coal Money," with the accompanying stones and fragments of pottery, carelessly left on the surface, have reached their present position by the steady and long-continued operation of a natural cause, the effect of which is frequently observed on digging into soil that had been chalked or marled some years previously, and where the chalk or marl will invariably be found in a layer at a depth below the surface proportionate to the time that may have elapsed. The certainty of this effect, and the nature of the operating cause, are well noted in a paper "On the formation of Mould," read before the Geological Society of London, by Charles Darwin, Esq., F.G.S., in which the writer adduces a number of instances conclusively demonstrative that this effect is attributable to an operation which, however trivial it may appear, is proved to be sufficient for the purpose, viz., the natural operation of the ordinary earthworm,—that the whole is due to the digestive process by which the earthworm is supported. It is well known that worms swallow earthy matter, and that