Evening star., 1933-10-29
BY THOMAS r HENRY.

How Gid gold. which at some time
or other has been the basis of money
throughout most of the civilized world,
This question has been much dis
cussed by anthropologists, who say the
attachment Of mankind to gold ante
dates by ages the known use Of money
as . medium Of exchange. Thus the
qualities Of gold which make 1t valuable
as currency or as basis for currency
its scarcity, its durability, etc-can
have had nothing to do with the original
values attached to 1t.
Gold value and money value started
independently and finally came together.
Even today, 1t is explained. the value
money. II Is an almost universally ac-
cepted symbol Of happiness, of health,
OF virtue and other desirable things.
Beginning Of It's Use.
The use Of gold. anthropologists BE-
lieve.. arose directly from the late stone
age Earth Mother magico-religious COM
plex which was generally didused among
tho ancestors Of the present human race
over Europe and Asia. and even found
its way into the New World with the
earliest Asiatic migrants. It has left
Its traces in most Of the religious sys-
TENS Of today
The Earth Mother was the source Of
all life. According to the principle Of
sympathetic magic that like partakes of
the qualities of like, this conceptual
Earth Mother" began to be symbolized
by . tangible thing-the "cowrie" shell,
an exceptionally beautiful and curiously
shaped sea shell that was found along
the Mediterranean Coast. The use of
the cowrte shell as . symbol Of the
Earth Mother. and hence as . symbol
OF lie and prosperity. spread widely
| as an amulet. This was much more
than . good-luck token. 1t was sup
posed actually to possess some Of the
Earth Mother qualities-that is, to be
a life-giving thing.
Now, as the progress Of the idea is
traced by the celebrated British an
thropologist, g. Elliott Smith, the land
where the Earth Mother idea under
| went its greatest elaboration was an
cient Egypt. Here she was symbolized
as the black COW Hathor. joint symbol
OF motherhood. Of darkness and OF
death. All things came from Hathor
as the sun came out Of the darkness OF
night. All things went back to Hathor
| She was the reservoir OF life.
Cowrie Shell Symbol.
But In elevating Hathor, Egypt had
retained also the neolithic symbol OF
the cowrie shell. But through the cen
turies the magic potency of this par
ticular shell was gradually transferred
to shells in general They were con-
| sidered as carrying a sort of elixir OF
life. And from shells in general the
magic potency was diffused to the gen.
eral shape of shells. It was customary
| to bury shells with the dead as an aid
to obtaining immortality.
But shells were perlshable and often
| quite clumsy to be worn as amulets and
necklaces. Somebody idly fashioned an
imitation shell out Of the easily work
able yellow metal which was found
scattered about. 1t was easier to wear
less perishable and more decorative
The idea Of this mystical life-givine
quality had undergone by this time Q
{ long series OF transferences- from the
cowrie shen, to shells in general. to the
shape OF shells, to gold nodded In the
shape Of shells. The ilnal transference
was to gold alone.
Now. Prof. Smith maintains, the
greater part Of the worlds culture Diff
fused from Egypt With dawnine CIV
ilization, expanding from the Nile over
Europe, Asia and possibly even into the
! New World, went the idea Of gold as