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ON A CAST OF A STONE CROSS FORWARDED TO THE ROYAL IRISH ACADEMY 
BY T. A. WISE, M. D. 
Tus cast* was prepared from a beautiful stone cross which was recently 
discovered at Meigle, in Strathmore, and is considered a good specimen 
of a numerous class found in that part of Scotland which formed the 
ancient kingdom of Pictania, that existed from the third to the ninth 
century. Those crosses are all peculiar in their form, and in the cha- 
racter of their ornaments; are believed to be of a very early date, of 
which history makes no mention, and they differ from those of the 
west and south of Scotland. The present specimen will afford the 
Members of the Royal Irish Academy an opportunity of comparing it 
with the numerous and beautiful crosses of Ireland. 
This cross, like many others, had been broken and thrown down, 
probably at the time of the Reformation in Scotland, and was recently 
found on removing a malt-kiln which had been erected one hundred and 
fifty years ago. The original of this, and three other fragments of 
crosses and sculptured stones, had been used in the building, and, un- 
fortunately, the one the cast of which is now forwarded to the Academy, 
was considerably injured by its proximity to the fire-place. 
These beautiful crosses of Scotland are from two to fourteen feet in 
length, and differ from those in Ireland by being carved in relief 
from the face of the stone, with monstrous animals in the margin, and 
on a large proportion of them is carved the beautiful interlaced orna- 
ment which has been found in some Irish manuscripts.{| The back of 
these crosses represents processions of men on horseback and on foot, 
with hunting dogs, and various eastern animals, such as lions, ele- 
phants, serpents, camels, brahminic-bulls, centaurs, &c. 
An interesting peculiarity of these crosses in Scotland is, that thirty- 
nine have the Christian cross, with more or less decorations ; fifty-nine 
have peculiar symbols, along with the Christian cross; and fifty-one 
have these symbols alone on erect stones, seven of which are more or 
less connected with circles of stones ;§ so that we have a link between 
what are called Druidical circles and the stones with the peculiar 
symbols which seem to be Buddhistical; and then again combined with 
crosses erected by the large and peculiar sect of primitive Christians. 
The eastern symbols on these stones consist of two circles joined 
together by a belt forming the Buddhist droge, or symbol of the Deity ;}| 
and in the present cast this peculiar symbol appears on the left side of 
the cross, and merely consists of a circle with half the belt, which indi- 
cates the spiritual Deity, or Providence, and, when completed, would 
* By Mr. Laing, Edinburgh. 
+ Sueno’s Stone at Forres is an example, being 23 feet above the ground. 
+ Wilson’s “‘ Prehistoric Annals of Scotland,” p. 497. 
§ I beg to enclose a few copies ofan Essay on the subject, which was read before the 
Royal Society, Edinburgh. See also vol. ii., part 2. 
|| “‘ Sculptured Stones of Scotland,” by the Spalding Club. 
