Download Ulster Journal of Archaology, Vol. 4 (Classic Reprint) Book in PDF, ePub and Kindle
Excerpt from Ulster Journal of Archaology, Vol. 4 Sm, - Your account, in the last number of the Journal, * of the demolition of the cairn at Seraba, and the discoveries therein, interested me very much, in common, I am sure, with all your readers; but I would beg leave to take exception to the opinion expressed by Mr. Carruthers, that the finding of one of the well-known old Irish pipes among the debris, settles the question of the age of these articles, by proving, from the circumstance of being discovered in connection with the cairn, the contemporary character of the two objects, the cairn itself being admitted on all sides to have been an erection of a most distant age. I think it by no means settles the question, nor even advances a step in that direction, so long as the position of the pipe in the bottom of the structure, or some other place within it where it could not possibly have been laid by human hands subsequently to the erection of the cairn, remains undefined and unknown. These pipes have afforded Irish antiquaries much room for discussion: many entertain the Opinion that they are not older than the era of the introduction of tobacco into the country - no documentary evidence having, I believe, yet been dis covered, nor undisputed proof from any other source, that the practice of smoking was known to the ancient Irish. Tobacco, on its first introduction, seems to have seized at once on the public taste, if we may judge from the vast quantity imported into Ireland seventy or eighty years after that time: it is related that Raleigh himself, in the first or second year of James I., was pelted with tobacco-pipes in the streets of London. N ow, it is but reasonable to suppose, that if any substance, possessed even of a portion of the fascinating qualities of tobacco, had been known in old times, there was nothing in the habits and character of our early ancestors to prevent it from being received with as much favour in their sight as the more genuine weed at the present day is almost over the whole world, and among people in every stage of civilization, and that it would have been noticed accordingly somewhere. I do not assert that the subject is not noticed, but if discovered by any learned inquirer in any ancient document, it should be made known and it would go farther in settling the question of the antiquity of Danes' pipes, as 'they are sometimes called, than any other species of proof that could be adduced. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
