I have said that the word _celte_, which occurs in the Vulgate, is |56| of doubtful authenticity. Mr. Knight Watson,[192] in a paper communicated to the Society of Antiquaries, has shown that the reading in many MSS. is _certe_, and the question has been fully discussed by Mr. J. A. Picton,[193] Mr. E. Marshall,[194] Dr. M. Much,[195] and others. K. v. Becker[196] suggests that the error in writing _celte_ for _certe_ originated between A.D. 800 and 1400, and he points out that Conrad Pickel, the poet laureate, who died in 1508, latinized his surname by _Celtes_. Treating the subject as one of probability, it appears much more unlikely that a scribe should place a newfangled word _celte_ in the place of such a well-known word as _certe_, than that _certe_ should have been substituted for a word that had become obsolete. I am, therefore, unwilling absolutely to condemn the word, especially having regard to there being a recognized equivalent in Latin, _Cælum_. It has been suggested that there may originally have been some connection between the Latin _celtis_ and the British or Welsh _cellt_, a flint; but this seems rather an instance of fortuitous resemblance than of affinity.[197] A Welsh triad says there are three hard things in the world—_Maen Cellt_ (a flint stone), steel, and a miser’s heart. The general form of stone celts is well known, being usually that of blades, approaching an oval in section, with the sides more or less straight, and one end broader and also sharper than the other. In length they vary from about two inches to as much as sixteen inches. I do not, however, propose to enter at once into any description of the varieties in their form and character, but to pass in review some of the opinions that have been held concerning their nature and origin. One of the most universal of these is a belief, which may almost be described as having been held “_semper_, _ubique et ab omnibus_,” in their having been thunderbolts. “The country folks[198] of the West of England still hold that the ‘thunder-axes’ they find, once fell from the sky.” In Cornwall[199] they still have medical virtues assigned to them; the water in which “a thunderbolt,” or celt, has been boiled being a specific |57| for rheumatism. In the North of England, and in parts of Scotland, they are known as thunderbolts,[200] and, like flint arrow-heads, are supposed to have preservative virtues, especially against diseases of cattle. In Ireland the same superstition prevails, and I have myself known an instance where, on account of its healing powers, a stone celt was lent among neighbours to place in the troughs from which cattle drank.