56 Transactions. 



to Rome through Gaul, which w.is the overland route to Rome, 

 anil that he got masons from Tours to build Candida Casa. But 

 it is reasonable to suppose that after St. Ninian's death Candida 

 Casa ■would be sacred to his memory alone, and that Kirkmadrino 

 would be named after St. Martin of Tours, to whose memory the 

 holy men named upon these pillar-stones performed services. That 

 district is studded over with the prefix of " Kirk," which is Anglo- 

 Saxon, and the same dialect would harden the name Martin to 

 Madrine. There is no K in the Gaelic, but C spelled sometimes 

 K, as in Kilbride, Innokill ; and later the Norman-French Eaglais 

 for Eglisle occur in this district for the word Church instead of 

 Kirk. It has been suggested that they may have been Irish 

 ecclesiastics, but all the facts are against this theory. There are 

 no pillar-stones like them in all Ireland ; and the Greek letters and 

 Monogram, together with the Latin inscription, point to a Byzan- 

 tine-Roman influence succeeding, if not contemporary with, the 

 4tli century, when Constantine was converted to Christianity. If 

 I have reasonably established this I shall have succeeded in the 

 main object of this paper. 



II. The Oak and Other Trees. By Mr Frank Miller of 

 Annan. 

 Mr F. Miller, Annan, read an able paper, rendered more at- 

 tractive by copious poetical extracts, on the subject of the " Oak 

 and other Trees." He dealt first with the extraordinary longevitj^ 

 of the oak, stating that oaks were still standing in this country 

 which were planted as acorns before the last of the Roman legions 

 left these shores. He then vividly depicted the reverence with 

 which the Druids regarded the tree, and the observances associated 

 with it in Druidical times, and also treated of the many historical 

 associations which had since centred I'ound it. The oak had also 

 proved its practical value, the strength and durability of its timber 

 specially fitting it for naval purposes in the days when " the 

 wooden walls of old England " were renowned all over the world, 

 and making it valuable for architectural uses in the present time. 

 Among large oaks, Mr Miller mentioned several majestic trees in 

 Scotland, specifying particularly two at Drumlanrig, which had 

 escaped the mania for destruction of the late Duke of Queensberry, 

 and two on the Eskdale estate of the Duke of Buccleuch. Mr 

 Miller then dealt at some length, and in an interesting fashion, 

 with the characteristics of the beech, the ash, and the yew, and 

 the poetical associations connected with them. 



