2 The Dolmen-Mounds of Brittany. [January, 
1. In the first group he places all the dolmens and demi- 
dolmens, which, following the popular ideas of his time, he 
supposes to have been Druidic altars, on which human 
sacrifices were performed, from the summit of which Arch- 
Druids preached, and inside of which they also had their 
habitation: where also an eternal pyre was kept burning, 
from which source the neighbouring Gauls daily obtained 
fire for their own domestic hearths, which were each night 
extinguished by the inexorable Celtic law of couvre-feu, the 
origin of which is lost in the gloom of prehistoric ages. He 
places also under this class the circular and other enclosures 
of upright stones, which he supposes to have been Druidic 
temples and sanctuaries. 
2. The sepulchral group include the menhirs and align- 
ments of peulvens, as also the confused assemblages of stones 
called in Celto-Breton ‘‘ Carneilloux,” which the Chevalier 
supposes to have been cemeteries, the grave-mounds or 
tumuli, to some of which, when composed simply of stones 
heaped upon one another (cairns), the distinguishing 
Celtic name of galgal is given. 
3. To the memorial group are referred the isolated 
menhirs of extraordinary size, commemorative of victory or 
some momentous event. 
Such were the ideas generally received some five-and- 
thirty-years ago, when De Freminville wrote; but since, a 
more perfect knowledge of various fa¢ts connected with 
these monuments has wrought a revolution of opinion, and 
the term Druid’s altar is now obsolete, and no longer to be 
found in the antiquary’s text-book. 
After careful examination of numerous cromlechs and 
tumuli by excavation, the study and comparison of their 
varied contents has led the first archzologists of the day to 
conclude that all dolmens* were originally covered with tumult, 
and that one and all of these and analogous structures are 
satisfactorily proved to be of a sepulchral character. The 
circles and alignments are, however, by some excluded from 
this category, but they are admitted to have had some con- 
nection with funeral rites and ceremonies. 
* Tinclude in the word dolmen all megalithic chambers, whether enclosed 
in mounds or deprived of their primitive coverings, and in treating of Breton 
monuments I insist on their tumular character as a principle of universal 
application. I know and admit of no so-called dolmen which does not or 
should not come under this rule. This megalithic structure is a tomb in every 
stage of dilapidation. It may be found totally enveloped or partially exposed, 
or wholly denuded, and in every intermediate state, in which may be detected 
the vestiges of the original tumulus. Instances of complete denudation are 
comparatively rare.—Rev. W. C. LukIs. 
