Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 7.djvu/489

 USED BY A ROMAN OCULIST Oil EMPIRIC. 355 Society on a previous occasion ; and other notices of a like nature might be cited. It were to be desired that these Roman vestiges might be regarded by Dr. Petrie, or some other erudite antiquary in the sister kingdom, as of sufficient interest to claim a detailed examination. To Mr. Dunoyer, who has so freely placed at our disposal, on former occasions, the results of his valuable investigations, the Institute is now again indebted for the communication of a relic of no ordi- nary interest. Our thanks are likewise due to its possessor, Dr. Dowsley, of Clonmel, for his courteous permission that it should be submitted to our readers. The stamp here represented was found in the county of Tipperary, which has produced so many curious remains of all periods. Mr. Dunoyer, Avith his accustomed zeal on such occasions, sought out the finder, a person named Bane, a sergeant in the Clonmel police, and has given us the following particulars : — " The tablet was discovered about the year 1842, in a dike on the rising ground above the green of the village of Golden Bridge, and in a plot of land four acres in extent, known by the name of ' the Spittle Fields or Lauds.' On this may yet be seen some ruins known tradi- ditionally as ' the Hospital,' or Infirmary. In the dike where the tablet was found a quantity of human bones have been brought to light. This singular object is very smooth, appa- rently formed of a piece of hardened fine-grained slate, of a dark green or blue colour, easily scratched with a knife, and the colour then appears of a light grey hue. Golden Bridge is on the river Suire, about a mile above the celebrated abbey of Athassel, founded a.d. 1200 by William de Burgo. At Golden there existed, in 1842, a remarkable circular castle which defended the bridge, but it has since fallen." Mr. Dunoyer adds the conjecture — " Is it possible to suppose that this stamp had been used in medieval times by some cunning leech who practised the healing art at this Spittle of i MivvErT TVTIANIcl Golden ? " _ [ p lAM YS VSA DV3rc J Cj The annexed representation „^„,,^„ oculists .stamp, found in co i ,pi>er»rv. will readil_y show that this object (sizeoforiginaii is one of those curious relics designated bv Gough and other