recently used it for their stone implements in
the same way that the ancient lake dwellers did; and the Mogul
emperors of Delhi set such a high value upon it on account of its
superstitious virtues that they had it cut, jewelled, and enamelled
into the most exquisite forms.

In Rome the martyr weights, as relics of the stone age, afford a
curious example of a very primitive epoch projecting far into a
highly-civilised one. Stone weights continued in use long after bronze
and iron implements were constructed, on account of the sacred
associations connected with them. Weights and measures were regarded
by the Romans as invested with a peculiar religious significance; the
stone of which the weights were composed was called from that
circumstance, or because of the occult qualities attributed to it,
_lapis divinus_; and therefore there was a deep-seated prejudice,
which reached down to the days of the highest splendour of the Empire,
against the introduction of a new substance. This was the case with
all articles used in religious ceremonies. As late as the period of
St. Paul's residence in Rome, and at the time of the first persecution
of the Christians, ancient pagan rites were celebrated in the Forum,
in which the use of metal was forbidden; and only stone hatchets
could be employed in slaughtering animals, and only earthen vessels
used in carrying the significant parts of the sacrifices into the
temples. Treaties were also ratified by striking the victim offered on
the occasion with a flint hatchet. The ancient Egyptians, although
using iron and bronze for other objects, invariably used stone knives
in preparing bodies for the process of embalming. The sacrifices which
the Mexicans offered to their idols at the time of the Spanish
conquest were cut up by means of knives of obsidian, which they
obtained from the lavas of their volcanoes. In the Bible we have
several traces of the same universal custom. The Jews seem to have
performed the rite of circumcision with flint implements, for we read
in Exodus that Zipporah, the wife of Moses, took a sharp stone for
that purpose; and the phrase translated "sharp knives" in Joshua v.
2--"At that time the Lord said unto Joshua, Make thee sharp knives,
and circumcise again the children of Israel the second time"--should
be translated, as in the marginal reference, _knives of flint_. To the
same ancient widespread habit may doubtless be referred the
prohibition, mentioned in Exodus