Volume 3 - Electric Scotland

252 DRUIDS.
writers arose. There is no foundation for analogical
reasoning-, beyond that of the resemblance of their tenets
to those of other ancient mythologies. Nor is there any
evidence from modern remains. The evidence which has
been brought forward is imaginary, because the monu-
ments or objects on which it is founded have been gra-
tuitously assigned to this order of priests. I have shown
that this is the case with the cromlechs, the circles, and
the cairns ; and the same reasoning" may be applied to
the erect stones, the stone coffins, and the other relics
which have been, on grounds equally conjectural, at-
tributed to them. History does not inform us that they
erected such works, nor does it describe any usages
which should induce us to form that opinion. On the
contrary, it excludes them. Nor is there any analogy or
induction by which we might form such a conclusion.
On the other hand, history does inform us that the Scan-
dinavian or Gothic nations, who were not Druids, and
who had another form of worship, did erect such works ;
and while it also informs us of the real purposes for which
they were erected, these are confirmed by analogy and
evidence of other kinds, which cannot leave a rational
doubt behind.
Excluding this evidence, we must also exclude those
natural productions which Borlase chiefly, and others
following him, have chosen to imagine Druidical monu-
ments. The Rock Basins, as they have been called, are
natural excavations, in granite commonly, produced by
the action of water. If a single drop of water contrives
to make a lodgment on the surface of this rock, particu-
larly in Cornwall, where its texture and nature subject
it to this kind of decomposition, the result is the disinte-
gration of the stone, which goes on, and necessarily in
an equable or circular manner, till the cavity becomes
considerable ;
while, from its smoothness and regularity,