386 



NA TURE 



[Mar. 14,1872 



FERGUSSON'S RUDE STO.VE MONUMENTS* 



T X Mr. Ferg-usson's " Handbook of Architecture," pub- 

 •^ lishcd ill 1854, one chapter of about fifty pages is de- 



voted to Megalithic, or, as he prefers to call them, Rude 

 Stone, Monument^. Ever since that period he has Ijeen 

 collecting materials on this interesting subject, and the 

 result is now before us, in the work which forms the subject 



Fjg. i.-Dc'lm=n at Casllc WelUn, Ireland. From a drawing by Sir Henry J: 



'1^^^^^^^^ 



of this notice. In it he confines himself to the classes of 

 monuments indicated in the title, omiuing allieference to 

 hut circles, Pict's houses, brochs, and other bu ldin""s 



composed of smiUer stones ; not becaus3 he doubts 

 that the> belong to the same period, " but because their 

 nge bem:; doubtful also" it would only complicate the 



Fig. 2. — Dolmen dc Bousquet. From a drawing by E. Cartailhac. 



argument to introduce them. He limits himself therefore 

 to tumuli, menhirs or stone pillars, stone circles, avenues, 

 and dolmens. All these we find sometimes singly, some- 



times in combination, the tumulus containinga dolmen, being 

 surrounded by one or more stone circles, and surmounted 

 by a menhir. Fig. liii., representing the celeb-ated 



3 — Nine Ladies, Stanton Moor. From a dra\\ing by L Jewitt. 



tumulus of New Grange, near Drogheda, gives a good 

 idea of the large barrows; it was originally surrounded by 

 a circle of stones, most of wh'ch, however, have disap- 



peared. Fig. 3 represents the stone circle, known as the 

 Nine Ladies on Stanton Moor. 

 The typical "Dolmen" may be described as a massive 



stone resting on three supports ; the celebrated Kits Coty j ample. Fig. cvii. represents one at Ha'.skov, in Denmark, 

 House, near Maidstone, may be regarded as a typical ex- | raisedonasmallmound,and surrounded byacircleof stone. 



Fig. I,representin;; a Dolmen at Castle Wellan, Ireland, and 



(L.ondon : Jphn Murray, 1872.) 



By Ja 



Fergn-,son, D.C L., F.R S. 



Fig. 6, one at Graidmont, in Bas Languedoc, are more ex- 



