14 
have only 24 stars from which to select. But, further still, our 
stars must be only in two quarters of the heavens, the S.E. 
and N.W., the other two quarters being occupied by the rising 
or the setting Sun. Thus out of the countless starry host only 
12 stars are left from which we must select four. 
I need not trouble you with all the combinations I tried. I 
will only mention that the process was greatly facilitated by the 
fact that the star « Hydre was the only star to which the 
South mound could have pointed. I will now proceed to deal 
with the four stars I finally adopted, and the calculations by which 
they combine and agree in giving about 2,800 years ago as 
the date for the building of Stonehenge. With regard to 
this date, I may here mention that I think at least two 
epochs in the history of Stonehenge are shewn by the data 
to which I have alluded. The earlier of these is about 2,900 
from the present year, 1897, z.¢., B.c. 1000. I regret that I have 
not had time to work out this date to my entire satisfaction. In 
fact, this monument never engaged my attention before that 
pleasant visit which, with this Society, I paid to Stonehenge on 
the 14th of last September. The other date refers to 2,788 
years from this present 1897, 7.¢., B.c. 891. As the calculations 
which bring out this last-named date seem to me to be sufficiently 
satisfactory, I will, in the first place, proceed to lay them before 
you. But I would here mention that the alignments to the 
mounds were used for determining the Autumn Equinox, and 
those that went to the two stones for determining the Spring 
Equinox. It may also be of interest to note that the Spring 
alignments proceed from the middle of the inner faces of the 
two Western uprights of the East trilithons, and the alignments 
for Autumn proceed from the edges of the Eastern uprights of 
the same two trilithons. 
THE STARS TO WHICH THE OUTLYING STONES LEAD. 
The first star that I will bring to your notice is a Hydre. 
And I will ask you to remember that by my theory the two out- 
