STONEHENGE AND THE STARS 259 



that is to say, a temple to make observations of the 

 length of the year by observing the rise of the sun 

 on the longest day of the year in other parts of 

 England there were other temples observing the 

 sun, not on June 2ist, but early in May and early 

 in August." 



The thesis which has thus briefly been ex- 

 plained is developed at great length and with much 

 minuteness of observation in the book whose title 

 is set at the head of this article, a book which also 

 diverges into folk-lore considerations which cannot 

 be dealt with hie et nunc. Respecting the main 

 theory, however, this much may be said, that it is 

 perfectly obvious that the sun, moon and stars 

 form some of the most natural objects of worship 

 to any primitive race unprovided with the know- 

 ledge of the Creator of those bodies, and that, as 

 a matter of fact, the worship of these bodies has 

 been and is the religion of many races. Hence, 

 there is no inherent improbability, certainly no 

 impossibility, that the circles and other similar 

 objects in England and elsewhere were erected for 

 the worship of the sun and stars. 



Further we must admit, with Professor Gow- 

 land, that it is almost impossible to suppose that 

 the collocation of stones at Stonehenge and their 

 relation to the rising sun at the time of the summer 

 solstice is the result of mere chance. But if it is not 

 the result of mere chance, then it must have had a 

 meaning, and that meaning may well have been 

 that which Sir Norman Lockyer has postulated. 

 On the other hand it is quite clear that it may not, 

 but that the path of the sun on the day in question 



