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Yet at the very time that Mr. Crookes was carrying out this beautiful inquiry in a manner and spirit worthy of all admiration, he gave to the public, in his Notes of an Inquiry into the Phenomena called Spiritual,' the most conclusive evidence that his mind has its unscientific as well as its scientific side; so that, while pursuing with rare ability and acuteness a delicate Physical investigation in which nothing is taken for granted without proof satisfactory to others as well as to himself, he has yet allowed himself to become so completely possessed by a 'dominant idea' in regard to the 'phenomena called Spiritual,' as to accept either the products of his own imagination, or the deceptions practised upon him by others, as facts that should command the same credence as the demonstrations of his Radiometer. Of The Alteration of Weight of Bodies,' a class of phenomena capable of precise physical determination, Mr. Crookes simply says:-'I have repeated the experiments already described in this journal, in different forms, and with several mediums.' But why does he not tell us precisely what were the weights so altered, and what force was exerted by the medium, as determined in each case by the precise measurement he so well knows how to apply? Of his yet more extraordinary assertions, the following are samples :—

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On one occasion I witnessed a chair, with a lady sitting on it, rise several inches from the ground. On another occasion, to avoid the suspicion of this being in some way performed by herself, the lady knelt on a chair in such a manner that its four feet were visible to us. It then rose about three inches, remained suspended for about ten seconds, and then slowly descended. At another time two children, on separate occasions, rose from the floor with their chairs, in full daylight, under (to me) most satisfactory conditions; for I was kneeling and keeping close watch upon the feet of the chair, and observing that no one might touch them.-On three separate occasions I have seen Mr. Home raised completely off the floor of the room, once sitting in an easy chair, once kneeling on his chair, and once standing up.-There are at least a hundred recorded instances of Mr. Home's rising from the ground, in the presence of as many separate persons.

A beautifully formed small hand rose up from an opening in a dining-table, and gave me a flower; it appeared and then disappeared three times at intervals, affording me ample opportunity of satisfying myself that it was as real in appearance as my own. This occurred in the light in my own room, whilst I was holding the medium's hands and feet.—I have more than once seen, first an object move, then a luminous cloud appear to form about it, and, lastly, the cloud condense into shape and become a perfectly formed hand. In the light I have seen a luminous cloud hover over a heliotrope on a side table, break a sprig off, and carry the sprig to a lady; and on some occasions I have seen a similar luminous cloud visibly condense to the form of a hand, and carry small objects about.-A luminous hand came down from the upper part of the room, and, after hovering near me for a few seconds, took the pencil from my hand, rapidly wrote on a sheet of paper, threw the pencil down, and then rose up over our heads, gradually fading into darkness.

Whether, since the exposure of Katie King in Boston, U.S., the exhibition in the same city of the methods by which numerous 'spiritu

• Quarterly Journal of Science, January 1874.

alistic' tricks have been played, the publication in this country of the affidavit of Mrs. N. Culver, the near relative of the sisters Fox, as to the mode in which these originators of Spiritualism' played on the credulity of the public, and the imitation of many of the performances of its professors by Messrs. Maskelyne and Cooke, Mr. Crookes has begun to question whether he may not have been rather hasty in committing himself, I have no means of knowing; but I do not think that any save those who have themselves yielded to the same 'possession' will entertain any doubt about the matter. Any one who reads the account of the New England witch epidemic nearly two hundred years ago, will find that able, intelligent, and honest judges and juries, under the influence of a theological prepossession, allowed themselves to be sadly deluded and deceived' (as they themselves afterwards found out) to the extent of hanging some scores of innocent people; so that the curious duality' of Mr. Crookes's mental constitution has plenty of parallels in past time, to say nothing of the present.

The lesson which this curious contrast seems to me most strongly to enforce is, that of the importance of training and disciplining the whole mind during the period of its development, of cultivating scientific habits of thought (by which I mean nothing more than strict reasoning based on exact observation) in regard to every subject, and of not allowing ourselves to become 'possessed' by any ideas or class of ideas that the common sense of educated mankind pronounces to be irrational. I would not for a moment uphold that test as an infallible one. But it ought to be sufficiently regarded, to make us question the conclusions which depend solely upon our own or others' subjectivity; and to withhold us from affirming the existence of new Agencies in Nature, until she has been questioned in every conceivable way, and every other possibility has been exhausted.

W. B. CARPENTER.

ON THE PRESERVATION. OF.OUR ANCIENT NATIONAL MONUMENTS.

ENGLISH travellers in Oriental countries frequently make severe remarks on the manner in which even the most interesting remains of antiquity are allowed to go to ruin, or are even used in the construction of modern buildings. Sir Gardner Wilkinson says of the great statue of Rameses II. that when the Turks have burnt it for lime, it will be regretted.' In some cases English influence has been successfully used to stop the work of destruction, as in the case of the ancient walls of Constantinople, the preservation of which is said to have been due to the influence of our ambassador.

Unfortunately, however, it is not only in foreign and semi-civilised countries that the remains of antiquity are thus neglected, and our own archæologists have long watched with regret the gradual disappearance of our ancient national monuments. Dr. Stokes, in his Life of Petrie, says: 'The number of ancient remains that even during the last century have been wantonly destroyed is so great that their enumeration would be tedious.'

When the Ordnance Map was made, there were near Marlborough three dolmens of sufficient magnitude to be marked on the map. Two years ago I went down at Easter to visit them-one was still safe; the second, I was informed, had recently been removed by the occupier of the farm because it interfered with his ploughing; the third was actually being broken up to mend the roads.

Abury (or Avebury) itself, the year before last, had a very narrow escape. Speaking of it, one of our old antiquaries said that Abury did as much exceed Stonehenge as a cathedral doth an ordinary parish church.' The monument is not now nearly so perfect, a large number of the gigantic stones having been broken up for the sake of a profit, which after all did not amount to more than a few shillings:

The entire series of remains (truly observes the writer of a recent excellent article in the Pall Mall Gazette) presented such a colossal enigma as it would be difficult to parallel, even at Karnac. The procedure of the Wiltshire farmers with regard to these magnificent stones has been a simple one. A stone eighteen feet square will cover two-thirds of a perch of land and deduct so much from the area suitable for tillage, or rather for grazing, for but little of the land referred to has been brought under the plough. On the other hand, the Sarsen stone is unsurVOL. I.-No. 2.

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passed for road metal. The plan adopted, therefore, was to kindle a good fire of faggots, brushwood, and logs on each stone one at a time, and when the fire had burned to the embers, and the stone had been well heated, to throw cold water upon it. By the cracks thus caused, or by the injury done by the fire, the stone was rendered manageable-that is to say, it could be, and was, broken up and carted off to mend the roads.

Still even now there is perhaps no more remarkable monument of the kind in this country, or even in Europe. The year before last, however, a considerable part of the site was bought by a building society, lotted out in sites for cottages, and actually sold in small plots for this purpose. Fortunately, however-thanks mainly to the efforts of the rector, Mr. King, and Mr. Kemm-the villagers were persuaded for a small consideration to exchange their allotments for others in the next field, which, in fact, was just as convenient for their purpose; and thus the threatened destruction of the remains at Abury was fortunately prevented. Now in this case, again, no appreciable advantage would have been gained by the destruction of these remains, and yet they were saved, so to say, by a mere accident.

The destruction of the ancient earthworks at Dorchester, in Oxfordshire, is another case to which attention has recently been directed. It would, however, take too long to mention all similar instances of Vandalism. Let us take a single county. Mr. Warne, in his Ancient Dorset, expresses his regret that he should have to record the complete destruction of so many of the ancient monuments of that county. The first case I will mention is that of the Roman camp on Hod Hill, which was an unique example of Roman military skill.' Nothing could be finer than its condition about ten years ago; until then it might be seen as in its pristine state, and, making due allowance for the lapse of ages, as perfect as when evacuated by the Roman cohorts. . . . It was indeed so perfect as to render it a model of Roman castrametation.' Since then, however, it has been almost entirely destroyed.

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Another interesting camp, that of Banbury, has within the last few years been entirely destroyed. Coming to stone monuments, Mr. Warne particularly mentions-1. A stone circle which used to stand between East Lulworth and Povington, but of which not a vestige now remains; 2. A dolmen in Steepleton Field near Portesham, which has been destroyed; 3. A dolmen on Lytton Down, of which only the cap-stone now remains; 4. A dolmen on West Compton Down, about two hundred yards north of the Via Iceniana; and 5. Another dolmen which used to stand by the roadside between Maiden Newton and Toller Down, but of which now not a vestige

remains.

As regards Ireland, Miss Stokes, a lady than whom no one is better acquainted with Irish archæology, has kindly furnished me with a list-I am sorry to say, a very long list-of ancient remains

which have been destroyed during the present century. I will only just mention a few instances. At Clonmacnoise, an Ogham stone has been destroyed, which was peculiarly interesting as being one of, I believe, only three cases in Ireland where the inscription in Oghams was accompanied by one in Roman characters.

The so-called Palace of Emania near Armagh has been entirely destroyed, and when Dr. Petrie remonstrated with the owner for removing a national historical monument, that gentleman replied that Ireland had no history.

The great Rath or pagan fort of Kilbannon, built on the conversion of the native chief by St. Patrick, was still in part visible in 1826, but has now entirely disappeared.

The ruins on Holy Island in Loch Derg are rapidly perishing. These buildings were erected by King Brian Boru, and, from an architectural as well as an historical point of view, were of great interest.

At Inismurray, the early Christian inscriptions, many of which were still perfect in 1834, have all been destroyed but one.

Perhaps I could give no more striking or more convincing fact than this, that while in 1800 there were 118 round towers in Ireland, more than forty of them have since perished.

So strongly, indeed, do archæologists feel the necessity for some legislation that I think I may say every archæological society in England, Scotland, and Ireland has petitioned the House of Commons on the subject. Lastly, I will quote the following letter with which I was honoured by the late Lord Stanhope, then, as for so many years, President of the Society of Antiquaries, and which he authorised me to read in the House of Commons:

MY DEAR SIR JOHN,

Grosvenor Place, February 1, 1873.

As President of the Society of Antiquaries, I am able to assure you how frequently the attention of that society has been invited to the wanton destruction of prehistoric and other early remains amongst us. This destruction is the more to be lamented, since in many cases such remains are the only records extant of the early races which appear to have inhabited this island.

Among very many instances of the kind I might mention the havoc among the stone monuments of Dartmoor; the case of the so-called 'Cheese-wring,' one of the most interesting of the Cornish antiquities, the destruction of which is now imminent if not by this time accomplished; and the case also of Dorchester, not the county town, but the village of that name in Oxfordshire, where the undoubted British earthworks have all but disappeared.

To appeals upon these subjects the Council of the Society of Antiquaries have always responded with alacrity, but seldom with success. No machinery is provided by the Legislature, no funds are placed at the disposal of the society, by which the mischief can be stayed. The result is that our stone monuments are used as quarries, and our earthworks are levelled by the plough. I am therefore rejoiced to learn that you design to bring forward this question, and I hope that