MEGALITEIC MONUMENTS. 39 



the unknown. To do this is not to destroy the grounds of religion, 

 though, as science advances, doctrinal and historical systems may have 

 to undergo progressive modifications. It is one thing to be asked to 

 change the form of religion, and quite another to he summoned to 

 part with its substance. The latter demand has never, so far as we 

 are aware, been made in the name of science by any authorized expo- 

 nent. It is no new thing for religion to go forth in search of new 

 ground. Suppose that we have now frankly to acknowledge that 

 the old conceptions of special creation and providential design are 

 no longer tenable in the light of modern knowledge, shall religion 

 fail from among us ? Never, unless we are willing it should fail. 

 If we ourselves are faithful, Religion, though she may have to abide 

 for a time in tabernacles, will still be with us, and all our thoughts and 

 all our investigations will be hallowed by her influence. Evolution 

 is simply the current form of scientific opinion ; we adhere to it be- 

 cause it seems to be the truth. Religion is that instinct in man which 

 leads him to recognize and worship that which is highest and best. 

 Far, then, from our submission to the truth cutting us off from religion, 

 it should, and it will, bring religion nearer to us, and enable us some 

 day to place it upon imperishable foundations, and to make it the abid- 

 ing consecration of all thought and effort. 







MEGALITHIC MONUMENTS IN SPAIN AND 



PORTUGAL. 



By the Marquis de NAD A ILL AC. 



""VTOTHING in the ancient history of man is of more considerable 

 -L.N interest than are those monuments, at once rudely grand and 

 mysteriously simple, which have been designated megalithic. They 

 may be simply raised stones, isolated menhirs, cromlechs arranged in 

 a circle, or artificial caves formed by placing flat flags horizontally on 

 standing supports. Dolmens or covered passages were usually buried 

 under masses of earth or stones, so as to form veritable tumuli ; but 

 they always present the common character of being constructed in 

 rough blocks, virgin of all human labor. 



Megaliths are important on account of their number* and their 

 dispersion. They are to be found, with a likeness running through 

 them all, in places most remote from one another, on different conti- 

 nents. At Carnac and at Kermarin are immense rows of stones, of 



* A French sub-commission on megalithic monuments was appointed in 1879, for the 

 purpose of assuring the preservation of the more important among these structures. An 

 imperfect count, made under its direction, raised the number of dolmens, menhirs, polis- 

 soirs, basin-stones, and rocking-stones, still standing in France, to 6,310. Tumuli, which 

 are very numerous, are not included in this enumeration. 



