The reverse of this axiom is also true: The more words

(58) that has some birta on the head, the country will be strengthened (reinforced);

(59) that has on the head the mouth of an old man and that foams (slabbers), there will be great prosperity in the land, the god Bin will give a magnificent harvest (inundate the land with fertility), and abundance shall be in the land;

(60) that has on one side of the head a thickened ear, the first-born of the men shall live a long time (?);

(61) that has on the head two long and thick ears, there will be tranquility and the pacification of litigation (contests);

(62) that has the figure in horn (like a horn ?) . . ."

As ancient and as obscure as are these records, Ballantyne has carefully gone over each, and gives the following lucid explanatory comments:--

"What 'ears like a lion' (No. 1) may have been it is difficult to determine; but doubtless the direction and shape of the auricles were so altered as to give them an animal appearance, and possibly the deformity was that called 'orechio ad ansa' by Lombroso. The absence of one or both ears (Nos. 2 and 3) has been noted in recent times by Virchow (Archiv fur path. Anat. xxx., p. 221), Gradenigo (Taruffi's 'Storia della Teratologia,' vi., p. 552), and others. Generally some cartilaginous remnant is found, but on this point the Chaldean record is silent. Variations in the size of the ears (Nos. 4 and 5) are well known at the present time, and have been discussed at length by Binder (Archiv fur Psychiatrie und Nervenkrankheiten, xx., 1887) and others. The exact malformation indicated in Nos. 6 and 7 is, of course, not to be determined, although further researches in Assyriology may clear up this point. The 'round ear' (No. 8) is one of Binder's types, and that with a 'wound below' (No. 9) probably refers to a case of fistula auris congenita (Toynbee, 'Diseases of the Ear,' 1860). The instance of an infant born with two ears on the right side (No. 10) was doubtless one of cervical auricle or preauricular appendage, whilst closure of the external auditory meatus (No. 11) is a well-known deformity.

"The next thirteen cases (Nos. 12-24) were instances of anomalies of the mouth and nose. The 'bird's beak' (No. 12) may have been a markedly aquiline nose; No. 13 was a case of astoma; and Nos. 14 and 15 were instances of stenosis or atresia of the anterior nares. Fetuses with absence of the maxillae (Nos. 16 and 17) are in modern terminology called agnathous. Deformities like that existing in Nos. 20 and 21 have been observed in paracephalic and cyclopic fetuses. The coincident absence of nose and penis (No. 21) is interesting, especially when taken in conjunction with the popular belief that the size of the former organ varies with that of the latter. Enlargement of the upper lip (No. 22), called epimacrochelia by Taruffi, and absence of the lips (No. 23), known now under the name of brachychelia, have been not unfrequently noticed in recent times. The next six cases (Nos. 25-30) were instances of malformations of the upper limb: Nos. 25, 26. and 27 were probably instances of the so-called spontaneous or intrauterine amputation; and Nos. 28, 29, and 30 were examples of the comparatively common deformity known as polydactyly. No. 31 was probably a case of ectopia cordis.