300 



NATURE 



[January 26, 1905 



Since Sir Edmund Antrobus, the present owner, has 

 acted on the advice of the societies I have named to 

 enclose the monument, with a view to guard it from 

 destruction and desecration, he has been assailed on 

 all sides. It is not a little surprising that the " un- 

 climbable wire fence " recommended by the societies 

 in question, the Bishop of Bristol being the president 

 of the Wiltshire Society at the time, is by some 

 regarded as a suggestion that the property is not 

 national, the fact being that the nation has not bought 

 the property, and that it has been private property for 

 centuries, and treated in the way we have seen. 



Let us hope also that before long the gaps in the 

 vallum may be filled up. These, as I have already 

 stated, take away from the meaning of an important 

 part of one of the most imposing monuments of the 

 world. In the meantime, it is comforting to know 

 that, thanks to what Sir Edmund Antrobus has done, 

 no more stones will be stolen, or broken by sledge- 

 hammers ; that fires ; that e.xcavations such as were 

 apparently the prime cause of the disastrous fall of 

 one of the majestic trilithons in 1797; that litter, 

 broken bottles and the like, with which too many 

 British sightseers mark their progress, besides much 

 indecent desecration, are things of the past. 



If Stonehenge had been built in Italy, or France or 

 Germany, it would have been in charge of the State 

 long ago. 



I now pass from the monument itself to a refer- 

 ence to some of the traditions and historical state- 

 ments concerning it. 



Those who are interested in these matters should 

 thank the Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural 

 History Society, which is to be warmly congratulated 

 on its persistent and admirable efforts to do all in its 

 power to enable the whole nation to learn about the 

 venerable monuments of antiquity which it has 

 practically taken under its scientific charge. It has 

 published two most important volumes ' dealing 

 specially with Stonehenge, including both its traditions 

 and history. 



With regard to Mr. Long's memoir, it may be 

 stated that it includes important extracts from notices 

 of Stonehenge from the time of Henry of Huntingdon 

 (i2th century) to Hoare (1S12), and that all extant 

 information is given touching on the questions by 

 whom the stones were erected, whence they came, and 

 what was the object of the structure. 



From Mr. Harrison's more recently published 

 bibliography, no reference to Stonehenge by any 

 ancient author, or any letter to the Times for the 

 last twenty years dealing with any question touching 

 the monuments, seems to be omitted. 



It is very sad to read, both in Mr. Long's volume 

 and the bibliography, of the devastation which has 

 been allowed to go on for so many years and of the 

 various forms it has taken. 



As almost the w^hole of the notes which follow deal 

 with the assumption of Stonehenge having been a 

 solar temple, a short reference to the earliest state- 

 ments concerning this view is desirable; and, again, 

 as the approximate date arrived at by Mr. Penrose 

 and myself in 190 1 is an early one, a few words may 

 be added indicating the presence in Britain at that 

 time of a race of men capable of designing and 

 executing such work. I quote from the paper com- 



■ " The Wiltshire Archajological and Natural History Magazine. Stone- 

 henge and its Barrows." By William Long, M. A., F.S. A. (1876.) 



chxolocical and Natural History Magazine. Stone- 

 By W. Jeiome Harrison. (1902.) 



I he Wilf 

 henge Bibliography Nu 



municated by Dr. Penrose and myself to the Royal 

 Society :-— 



" As to the first point, Diodorus Siculus (ii., 47) 

 has preserved a Statement of Hecatasus in which Stone- 

 henge alone can by any probability be referred to. 



" We think that no one will consider it foreign to 

 our subject to say a word respecting the Hyperboreans. 



" .Amongst the writers who have occupied them- 

 selves with the mythology of the ancients, Hecataeus 

 and some others tell us that opposite the land of the 

 Celts [eV Toit avTinipttv rijs Ke^TlK^r toitois] there 

 exists in the Ocean an island not smaller than Sicily, 

 and which, situated under the constellation of The 

 Bear, is inhabited by the Hyperboreans ; so called be- 

 cause they live beyond the point from which the North 

 wind blows. ... If one may believe the same myth- 

 ology, Latona was born in this island, and for that 

 reason the inhabitants honour .'\pollo more than any 

 other deity. A sacred enclosure [i/jjoof] is dedicated 

 to him in the island, as well as a magnificent circular 

 temple adorned with many rich offerings. . . . The 

 Hyperboreans are in general very friendly to the 

 Greeks. 



" The Hecataeus above referred to was probably 

 Hecataeus of Abdera, in Thrace, fourth century B.C. ; 

 a friend of Alexander the Great. This Hecataus is 

 said to have written a history of the Hyperboreans : 

 that it was Hecataeus of Miletus, an historian of the 

 sixth century B.C., is less likely. 



" .-Xs to the second point, although we cannot go so 

 far back in evidence of the power and civilisation of 

 the Britons, there is an argument of some value to 

 be drawn from the fine character of the coinage issued 

 by British kings early in the second century B.C., and 

 from the statement of Julius Caesar (' De Belle 

 Gallico,' vi., c. 13) that in the schools of the Druids 

 the subjects taught included the movements of the 

 stars, the size of the earth and the nature of things 

 (Multa praeterea de sideribus et eorum motu, de mundi 

 magnitudine, de rerum natura, de deorum immor- 

 talium vi ac potestate disputant et juventuti tradunt). 



" Studies of such a character seem quite consistent 

 with, and to demand, a long antecedent period of 

 civilisation." 



Henry of Huntingdon is the first English writer to 

 refer to Stonehenge, which he calls Stanenges. 

 Geoffrey of Monmouth (1138) and Giraldus Cam- 

 brensis come next. 



In spite of Inigo Jones's (1600) dictum that Stone- 

 henge was of Roman origin, Stukeley came to the 

 conclusion in 1723 that the Druids were responsible 

 for its building, and Halley, who visited it in 1720 — 

 probably with Stukeley — concluded from the weather- 

 ing of the stones that it was at least 3000 years old; 

 if he only had taken his theodolite with him, how 

 much his interest in the monument would h.^ve been 

 increased ! 



Davies ("Celtic Researches," 1S04) endorses. 

 Stukeley's view : — 



" .\mongst the pure descendants of the Celtae, the 

 Druidism of Britain vi'as in its highest repute. The 

 principal seat of the order was found in Mona, an 

 interior recess of that ancient race, which was born 

 in the island. Into that sequestered scene, the 

 Druids, who detested warfare, had gradually retired, 

 after the irruption of the Belgae, and the further 

 encroachment of the Romans. They had retired from 

 their ancient magnificent seat at Abury, and from- 

 Iheir circular uncovered temple on Salisbury Plain, 

 in which the Hyperborean sages had once chaunted 

 their hymns to Apollo and Plenyz. " 



Norman Lockyer. 



NO 1839, VOL. 71] 



