June 6, 1907] 



NA TURE 



127 



by the behaviour of trees in sand ; the only alteration pro- 

 duced in the soil by the heating must have been an alter- 

 ation in the living organisms present in it. That bacteria 

 are connected with root action has, of course, been estab- 

 lished in certain special cases, but in these the connection 

 consists of the bacteria being the means of augmenting the 

 food supply of the plant ; the present case is altogether 

 different, for it appears as if the mere functioning of the 

 roots was dependent on bacterial action. Such a conclusion 

 would be one of far-reaching significance. Of course, the 

 facts require much more examination and confirmation, but, 

 even in their present slate, they are sufficiently evident to 

 warrant notification. 



That two out of the nine trees in sterilised soil showed 

 very little retardation in activity is not surprising, as there 

 were many opportunities for the re-inoculation of the soil, 

 the pots containing the trees having been exposed in the 

 open since February .), and no attempt having been made 

 to sterilise the trees themselves before planting, though the 

 roots were washed free from soil. The two exceptional 

 trees were in earth which had been heated to the higher 

 temperature ; they were two out of six planted under these 

 conditions. It may also be mentioned that heating to the 

 lower temperature does not destroy all soil bacteria, indeed, 

 it may increase the total bacterial contents: it is probably, 

 therefore, a question of killing some particular bacteria 

 which are connected with root activity. 



Spencer Pickerin-g. 



The Astronomical and Archaeological Value of the 

 Welsh Gorsedd. 



From the very interesting communication of the Rev. 

 John Griffith (May 2, p. q| it would at first sight appear 

 that the modern " Druids " had indeed preserved a tradi- 

 tion of the May year as well as of the solstitial year in 

 connection with the circles set up by them for the per- 

 formance of their ceremonies. I should be glad to think 

 that this was the case, but I find considerable difficulty 

 in connecting the modern circles with the ancient ones ; 

 there is no ancient circle which shows any sign of ever 

 having possessed such an array of outlying stones as 

 appears in the plan given by Mr. Griffith, and the out- 

 lying stones that reinain do not always conform to it 

 either ; nor is there any ancient circle, except those in 

 which a sepulchral cist forms the central point, and 

 Stonehenge, which has a flat stone in the centre. The 

 late " Myfyr Morganwg, .Archdruid of Wales," set up a 

 circle round the rocking stone at Pontypridd in the middle 

 of the last century, but in place of the eight outlying 

 stones figured by Mr. Griflith it has curved avenues form- 

 ing the head and tail ends of a serpent, so it does not 

 appear that modern " Druidic " authorities are agreed 

 upon this important subject. " Myfyr Morganwg " also 

 published a book in Welsh, the principal illustration to 

 which represents a Druid standing on a flat stone (some- 

 times it is a three-legged dolmen), surrounded bv a circle 

 of twelve others, on which converge three rays of light 

 coming from the north-east, east, and south-east, and 

 forming, no doubt, the original model of the " broad 

 arrow" and of the "Y cross," but without any outlying 

 stones, though three smaller stones are represented in 

 those lines inside the circle ; three stones which may re- 

 present these, or may, with others there, be intended for 

 an inner circle, also exist in his Pontypridd circle. The 

 central stone for sitting or standing on seems to be a 

 sine qua non with the modern " Druids," but it is not 

 found in ancient circles. There are upright stones in the 

 middle of the circles at Callernish, Boscawen-un, the 

 Stripple Stones, and the Marshpool or Hoar-stone circle 

 (Shropshire), and there was one in the middle of the 

 southern inner circles at Avebury, where also the middle 

 of the northern inner circles was occupied by a "cove," 

 or open shrine of three stones, as again was the case at 

 Arborlow, but at none of these places, except perhaps in 

 the Shropshire circle, could any man stand or sit on these 

 stones, though he might stand in front of them. In the 

 other great Ijritish circles (Stonehenge, which occupies a 

 place by itself amongst them, excepted) there is nothing in 

 the centre nor any appearance of there ever having been 



NO 1962, VOL. 76] 



anything, although there is reason to believe that whatever 

 was done in them was done at or about the centre. 



I am therefore inclined to think that the type of circle 

 represented by Mr. Griffith, and probably much of the 

 ritual connected with it, were evolved during the process 

 ol " re-codifying or otherwise dealing with the bardic 

 traditions," which, as he says, took place between the 

 twelfth and nineteenth centuries, when, as he also says, 

 a " voluminous body of traditions grew up," and that 

 whatever old ideas may be preserved amongst those tradi- 

 tions have got there rather in an accidental sort of way 

 than by continuous use or direct descent. The traditions, 

 however, though of no real authority in matters of detail, 

 are not without value as indications of an opinion of 

 very great antiquity as to the use of the ancient circles. 



The number nineteen occurs at Stonehenge, Dawns 

 Maen, Boscawen-un, the Cosdon circle (Dartmoor), and 

 in the proportionate measurements of Stanton Drew. It 

 probably refers to the cycle of nineteen years in which the 

 sun and moon were thought to return to the same relative 

 place in the heavens, and which was known in the fourth 

 century B.C., if not, indeed, much earlier, in the island 

 described by Hecatseus, usually identified with Great 

 Britain. .A. L. Lewis. 



35 Beddington Gardens, Wallinglon, Surrey. 



I AM glad that a brief summary of the evidence for the 

 antiquity of the Welsh Gorsedd has interested Mr. A. L. 

 Lewis. 



(i) The name " Druids " for the Welsh bards should 

 be dropped. It is retained at the Gorsedd as the name 

 of one of the three classes of members. There is very 

 little authority for calling the presiding bard arch- 

 druid. The proper name is Priv-vardd, Chief Bard. Let 

 " Druids " and " Druidism " remain as general terms for 

 the use of the " pre-historian." The Welsh bards insist 

 on a grander name, Gorsedd Bcirdd Ynys Prydain, the 

 high court of the bards of the Isle of Britain. 



(2) -As to the May year, it has not become obsolete in 

 Wales. There is practically no other in our ancient 

 literature. Its omission from the conventional Gorsedd 

 instructions, while it is everywhere present in the bardic 

 traditions with that exception, is, I think, due to monastic 

 influence. The Church year became solstitial. The bards 

 fraternised with the monks, and Gorsedds were held in 

 chapter-houses and churches. One result was that the 

 bards adopted the festival year as fixed by the Church, so 

 that the favourite time for a Gorsedd was neither solstitial 

 nor agricultural, but such a time as Whitsuntide. This, 

 the only serious meddling with the traditions that I can 

 find, was done, say, about the twelfth century, when the 

 Cistercian monks of Margam, Glam., where the Gorsedd 

 traditions were chiefly preserved, found a new use for the 

 Gorsedd, as a model for the round or polygonal chapter- 

 house. 



(3) It is not likely that a stone circle can be found 

 exactlv like a Welsh Gorsedd. In the earliest traditions, 

 like those of the oldest Mabinogion, we seem to find the 

 temple observatory in actual use, say, by the Druids; but, 

 speaking generally, in the Gorsedd traditions themselves it 

 is only a matter of minor importance, preserved as welt 

 as such a comparatively useless thing could be for the 

 sake of some sacred associations. Modern bards do not 

 understand the plans they have preserved. When a new 

 Gorsedd is set up, no account is taken of the height of the 

 horizon in the direction of the sunrise stones, a matter of 

 much importance to the builders of the megalilhic monu- 

 ments. The bards have religiously preserved the general 

 plan. .At some point of time, when it was deemed neces- 

 sarv to preserve such a thing after it had ceased to be of 

 practical use, the bards did better than copying any in- 

 dividual monument, which, as a rule, gives only one 

 decisive sight-line to sunrise or sunset. They set up a 

 complete almanac in stone. The perfect plan I have 

 directed attention to (Nature, May 2) presents sight-lines 

 to the quarter days of both the solstitial and May years. 

 .As the individual monument is usually oriented to some 

 one festival day, uniformity in detail is not to be looked 

 for. The Gorsedd presents in one plan the combined sun- 

 rise sight-lines of all the circles in fair preservation that 

 have been astronomicallv surveyed. 



