The evil eye. An account of this ancient and wide spread superstition

IX THE TORTOISE—THE PINE-CONE 325
The urine, according to adepts In magic, has mar-
vellous properties ; the eggs also are a remedy for
scrofula and other evils. The catalogue of remedies
given by Pliny, for which the tortoise can be used,
Is no less than sixty-six. ^"^
A tortoise - headed god occurs as one of the genii in the
tombs ; but it does not appear that the tortoise held a rank
among the sacred animals of Egypt. ^-^
The tortoise is very often depicted with and as
an emblem of Mercury, like the CaduceiisJ''^^ Jahn
gives particulars of the various symbols on the
hands known to him, and thus proves that all were
similar In type though differing in detail.
On the British Museum hand (Figs. 156, 157),
which Jahn had never seen, is a remarkable feature,
not uncommon, though the writer has seen one only.
Jahn says the pine-cone appears upon no less than
nine of the hands known to him. It Is also among
the amulets strung upon the Kertch necklace (Fig. 2 1 ).
The position given to It upon the tip of the thumb
marks It out as an object of considerable Importance,
and Its frequent use shows it to have been considered
as a powerful amulet. The pine-tree was sacred to
_Zeus, and an attribute of Serapis ;
It was beloved of
virgins. Ovid calls the pine ptira arborJ'^^ The
cone had however a phallic meaning, and Layard
says the pine-cone was most used In the cult of
Venus.^^^
The fig - tree on the hand had also a phallic
^"^ The tortoise was sacred to Cybele (De Pollice, p. 212). The tortoise
was a phallic amulet, and being considered an androgynous animal, was an apt
symbol of the double power (Payne Knight, Symb. Lang. p. 29).
529 Wilkinson, Anc. Egypt, vol. iii. p. 329.
^"' Montfaucon, vol. i. p. 79.
531 Ovid, Fast. ii. 25-8.
532 Forlong, op. cit. i. 59. I cannot find it in Layard's books.