Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 7.djvu/265

Rh THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 185 a little lost near Fosbury, but tliea unluterruptedly continuing by Andover to Wincbester, was also a Roman construction, uniting tlio uortbern and soutliern parts of this division of the country. If so, it would account still more for the frequent indications of Roman occupation which have been observed. Few have, I imagine, yet been investigated, and I believe that this tract of England would ampl}"^ repay the student or amateur seeking to ascertain how thickly the Romans established them- selves in spots intermediate to their great stations — as permanent inha- bitants — and what were the size and style of the habitations they oecnpiod. The Rev. C. W. Bingham gave a notice of the discovery of a singular instrument of bronze, recently dug up in exca- vating fur the foundation of a house at Dorchester, not far from what is usually considered to be its Roman wall. He brought the object for examination. (See the annexed representation ; half original size.) It is a pair of forceps, of unknown use, formed of bronze, well-encrustcd with patina, the length about 9 inches. The delicate perfection of their construction and the fine dentated edges of the valves, appear to indicate that it is an instrument of surgical use. It had been regarded by some antiquaries as destined to trim the wick of a Roman lamp, being well adapted to draw it out, or serve as a pair of snuffers to remove the fungi. Mr. Auldjo observed, that a pair of bronze forceps, with the extremities dentated, had been found at Ilerculaneum, and are now preserved in the Museo Borbonico. The extremities differ in form, being pointed and recurved, one of them concave, the other convex ; they are armed with teeth, which fit into each other ; the in- tention seems to have been analogous to that of the object exhibited by Mr. Bingham. The length is 7 inches 8| lines, Neapolitan measure. (Mus. Borb., vol. xiv., pi. 36.) The Italian antiquary Vulpes supposes that they were used to extract fragments of bone, arrow-heads, &c., from wounds, or to take up arteries : he considers them to be similar to the instrument described by Celsus (De Medicina, lib. viii., cap. 4) and Galen, — the ostraga. The form of the forceps for trimming the lamp is different from this. — Mr. Bingham exhibited also an interesting specimen of Kimmeridge coal, partly fashioned into an armlet, and exhibiting distinct marks of the lathe. Mr. W. Wynne Ffoulkes read a very interesting memoir on the recent examination of a barrow, at Gorsedd Wen, in the parish of Llangollen, county of Denbigh. This tumulus measures 2G yards in diameter, and 6 feet in height ; it is bell-shaped, or, more strictly, is, what Sir R. Hoare called, a " broad barrow." It is situated on the apex of an eminence, forming part of a farm in the county of Denbigh, called Gorsedd, then belonging to F. R. West, Esq., M.P., about two miles west of the A'illage of Syllattyn, Offa's Dyke ; traversing in a direction from north-east to south-west ; there defining the bounds of England, and Wales lies about 150 yards to the south-east of it: the river Morlas, now a trickling rill, rising about i>0 yards to the north- Valve of forceps : orig. size.