108 InscrRIBED Roman Stones or DUMFRIESSHIRE. 
20th March, 1896. 
Mr WILLIAM J. MAXWELL, Vice-President, in the chair. 
A meeting, largely attended, was held in Greyfriars’ Hall, at 
which the following paper was read :— 
Lhe Inscribed Roman Stones of Dumfriesshire. By JAMES MAC- 
DONALD, LL.D., F.S.A.Scot. 
The practice of setting up stones to perpetuate the memory 
of events is widespread and of great antiquity. Among an 
unlettered people a simple unhewn pillar bore silent witness to the 
truth of the tale that would be told in after years to those who 
asked what the stone meant. 
With the advance of civilisation such commemorative pillars 
became covered with allegorical sculptures or with inscriptions 
composed in the language of those by whom they were erected. 
In Italy a very considerable number of inscriptions of this kind 
still exist, written in the Latin language, and dated, some of them, 
long before the commencement of our era. The subsequent 
extension of the Roman power into other countries was marked 
everywhere by inscribed stones, many of which remain, and are 
the most trustworthy evidence we possess of the extent and 
reality of the imperial conquests. This mode of writing history 
reached perhaps its highest development in Roman and Romanized 
lands during the second century after Christ. 
The alphabet used by the Romans for inscriptions was that 
known among us as Roman capitals. The letters vary somewhat 
in form according to the nature of the stone, the taste of the 
stonecutter, and the period; but one cannot help being struck 
with the resemblance they bear to those with which we are so 
familiar. Whatever else has been changed for the better within 
the last two thousand years, the Roman capital letters have not 
been found susceptible of much, if any, improvement. 
Some peculiarities there were. To save space, two or even 
three or more letters might be joined so as to form what is called a 
ligature or nexus. In some inscriptions ligatures are numerous ; 
others are almost free of them. Words were seldom written in 
full, being almost always abbreviated. The first letter or the first 
two or three letters usually stand for the whole word. These 
