478 ANNUAL REPORT SIVHTHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1940 



books containing much valuable and suggestive material have been 

 written. That is all to the good. On the other hand, an impatient 

 public demands an immediate and complete solution of every problem 

 offered by the circle. This is the age of hurry and speed, but neither 

 hurry nor speed will avail much in archeological problems, where 

 evidence needs to be weighed with care and deliberation. But sooner 

 or later the so-called mysteries will be revealed to a public which has 

 the patience to wait and to be content with such enlightenment as 

 can be granted to it in the present day. 



The last word on Stonehenge has not yet been spoken ; the outlook 

 for the future is hopeful. Today the work of excavation is a fine 

 art, undertaken under skilled direction. Experts of all kinds coop- 

 erate, each in his own sphere, to see that every fragment of evidence 

 has its fullest importance. The day of conjecture and guesswork is 

 past, and we can look forward with confidence to the future, when, 

 in due course, Stonehenge again comes under the hand of the modem 

 investigator. 



