of affection or as a
sign of power. The oldest rings known were very large and cumbrous, and
they were adorned with stones, sometimes flattened to make seals on wax
or clay. The gemmal ring, as it is called, is an old kind, probably
several centuries old, and rings of this sort are not made now. From
what we know about them, it would appear the first ones were of French
work, that nation being long remarkable for skill in contriving curious
jewellery. Some may have been made in Italy, and even in our own land
rings have been dug up from the earth, where they were hidden away with
other valuables, or perhaps occasionally buried with those who had worn
them.

A gemmal ring has a double row of hoops, locked within each other like
the links of a chain. One edge of each ring is flat, so that when one is
slipped over the other, the gemmal looks like a single ring. While
opened out, two persons can put a finger into the hoops, and this fact
gives the origin of the old name applied to them, though it has somehow
got a little altered. 'Geminal' was the proper spelling, coming from the
Latin _geminus_ (a twin), because such a ring is twin or double. Of
course, owing to its form, a gemmal ring was valued as a love token; and
at one period it was often used as an engagement ring, or even as a
marriage ring. It is supposed that some gemmals, which have one ring
gold and the other silver, were made for wedding rings, the gold being
for the wife and the silver for the husband. There are gemmals still
existing which are adorned with precious stones, and some have singular
devices on their sides. One found at Horsleydown, in Surrey, had on each
of the two parts of the ring a hand, draped, and holding half a heart;
when the ring was closed, the hands appeared joined, holding a whole
heart between them. Other rings had mottoes in French or English.

The word 'gemmal' was formerly applied to other objects besides rings.
Thus we have in Shakespeare a mention of the 'gemmal bit,' some sort of
double bit for a horse.

J. R. S. C.

WONDERFUL CAVERNS.

IX.--THE GROTTO OF LA BALME.

The worshippers of Buddha and Brahma have not been alone in taking
advantage of caverns to build temples and religious houses, for in
Dauphine, in Eastern France, we find the magnificent grotto of La Balme
used for the same purpose. The builders of the West have not, however,
taken the same trouble over hewing out the solid rock as did their
Eastern