164 Bibliography of Stonehenge and Avebury. 



decimals " that Lord Eayleigh and Prof. W. Eamsay, were able (in 

 1894) to announce the discovery of a new gaseous constituent of 

 the atmosphere (Argon) ; and it is by the same methods of personal 

 investigation and capacity for looking after the minutest details that 

 anthropology has during the last quarter of a century succeeded in 

 unravelling the secrets of Egypt, and even— finally — in settling the 

 vexed question as to the probable age and purpose of Stonehenge. 



A pioneer and leader in this direction has been Prof. Flinders- 

 Petrie, whose plan of Stonehenge, made in 1880, is a model of what 

 such work ought to be. Petrie writes (1880) — "The original 

 measurements of the stone circle, on the triangulation lines, and 

 the well-wrought stones, were taken to the nearest one-tenth of an 

 inch, and in all cases correct to within one-quarter of an inch ; the 

 plotting and copying (on double the scale now lithographed) were 

 correspondingly done to about a thousandth of an inch, in many 

 parts with a magnifier ; the present photo-lithograph is therefore 

 intentionally accurate to 1/2000 of an inch ; and, considering the 

 the various sources of error, it may be usefully examined and 

 measurements taken from it, to 1/500 or 1/1000 of an inch." 



And General Pitt-Eivers, in his grand work entitled "Excavations 

 in Cranbourne Chase" (1887 — 98) has applied the same principles to 

 the exact locating of every scrap of pottery, metal, etc., found 

 during his diggings ; and has proved that the archteologist, no less 

 than the geologist, can identify and classify the successive layers or 

 " strata " beneath his feet by their included remains. 



It cannot be doubted that either Petrie or Pitt-Eivers could have 

 solved the " secret of Stonehenge " any time during the last twenty 

 years, had they been enabled and permitted to attack the problem 

 with the pick and spade. 



But the evident decay of the monument, as evidenced by the 

 falling of stones on the last day of the nineteenth century, brought 

 matters to a crisis. The owner, Sir Ednmnd Antrobus, invited a 

 committee of well-known antiquaries to advise him on the subject, 

 and, in accordance with their suggestions, the great leaning stone 

 was raised to a vertical position again in September, 1901, under 

 the inspection of Mr. W. Gowland. The finding of many stone 



