In the case of Stonehenge, the conclusion at which Sir Norman Lockyer arrives is that there was an earlier circle of small stones (still represented), but that the temple was rededicated, and the larger trilithons (each consisting of two uprights and a cross-piece) erected, and the main opening of the circle aligned to the midsummer rising sun about 1700 B.C., with a possible error of 200 years, more or less. This is arrived at by measurements showing the exact amount by which the alignment is “out” at the present day. This date is confirmed by the recent discovery of numerous stone hammers when one of the big stones was dug under and restored to the upright position from which it had slipped. The stone age is believed to have given place in Britain to the use of metal before 1700 B.C., and no metal tools were found at Stonehenge. Stonehenge--the most wonderful, mysterious, and complete of the great astronomical temples of Western Europe--has come down to us from the absolute darkness of prehistoric ages. Its secrets are still buried in the ground around and under its huge monoliths. This prodigious relic of the past is actually the private possession of one happy man, Sir Edmund Antrobus. Only two years ago he earned the gratitude of all men by employing workmen and machinery, at considerable expense, to restore one of the great stones to its upright position. The extraordinary thing is that whatever money is needed for the purpose is not at once offered to enable him to examine and replace with scrupulous care every stone, big and small, every scrap of soil, within an area of many hundred yards, embracing Stonehenge and all around it. I understand that he is willing to sell this great possession to the nation. It surely ought to be acquired as national property, and reverently excavated and preserved, whilst every fragment of significance found in the excavations should be placed in a special museum at Amesbury or Salisbury, under unassailable guardianship. Year by year it has crumbled away. We owe the sincerest thanks to Sir Edmund Antrobus for having placed a light wire fence around the venerated relics, and for putting a guardian in charge so as to arrest, even at this latest moment, the final desecration and destruction of this splendid thing by heedless ruffians. The protection afforded is, nevertheless, insufficient. The delay in examining everything on the spot and in making all that remains absolutely secure is a national disgrace. 32. _Alchemists of To-day and Yesterday_