STONE REMAINS OF BRITTANY. 101 
21st February, 1908. 
Chairman—The PRESIDENT. 
Stone ReMAINs oF Brittany. By Mr Joun GLover, W.S., 
Edinburgh. 
The special feature of Brittany which distinguishes it from 
all other European countries is to be found in those remarkable 
antiquities of the stone age which abound in every district, and 
which are to this day held in superstitious veneration by the 
simple inhabitants. The Druidical remains of Stonehenge, 
though finer individually than anything to be seen elsewhere, are 
but isolated examples, whereas in Brittany Celtic monuments 
more or less important may be counted by thousands, especially 
in the region known as the Morbihan on the borders of that 
singular archipelago, which was evidently the chief centre of the 
‘Celtic population. The principal monuments are :— 
Puelvens—pillars of stone. They are stones varying in height 
from 2 to 8 feet set upright in the ground at varying 
intervals. 
Menhirs are a larger description of monolith (the name means 
long stone). The largest in Brittany is at Pennargal, near 
Brest—it is more than 42 feet high. Another about a 
mile and a half to the south-east of Dol is 30 feet high, and 
one at Logmariargner, now thrown down and broken in two, 
was formerly more than 60 feet high. How these huge 
masses of stone were brought to their standing place or how 
they were reared to their upright position is as great a 
mystery as the purpose they were intended to serve. Con- 
jectures have been formed that they were in some way con- 
nected with the worship of the sun, but beyond conjecture 
nothing is known. 
Dolmens—stone tables—are what in England are called Crom- 
lechs. They consist of a horizontal slab of unhewn stone 
supported by two or more upright stones. In many cases 
they resemble a stone table, but in others their supports are 
placed side by side beneath a very large slab—often 60-80 
feet high. Many examples of dolmens may be seen in the 
neighbourhood of Auray. 
