[461] Experiments on Whinstone and Lava, by Sir J. Hall, Bart. Trans. Royal Soc. Edin. vol. v. p. 45; Series of Experiments on the Action of Heat, vol. vi. p. 71.
[462] I know of only one example yet noted out of Scotland, but it is a very remarkable one, and has been thought to confirm the idea of designed vitrification. (Vide Account of the Pierres Brulées, or Camp of Peran, a French primitive fort in the Commune of Clédran. Journal of Archæol. Association, vol. ii. p. 278.) The researches of Mr. Squier and Dr. Davis among the ancient monuments of the Mississippi Valley, reveal various examples of partial vitrification, tending to confirm the more consistent idea of accidental and varying origin.—Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge, vol. i. pp. 12, 17, 28, 36.
[463] Vide Jamieson, voce Beltane, for a curious collection of notices of various dates, illustrative of this ancient Scottish festival.
[464] Archæol. Scot. vol. iv. p. 297.
[465] Sir Walter Scott takes the Scandinavian origin of these structures for granted, while Dr. Macculloch, who delights to overturn the assumptions of every other antiquary, jumps to the far more extraordinary conclusion, that "there seems little reason to doubt the Picts and Scandinavians were radically one and the same people." The latter author then produces "perfect and incontrovertible proof of their real origin," by referring to certain examples said to be still visible in Norway. To this it is a very satisfactory reply that Mr. Worsaae, the distinguished Danish antiquary, has expressed his opinion that nothing at all resembling them is to be found in any of the Scandinavian countries; and Professor Munch of the University of Christiania, one of the most learned northern archæologists, completely confirms this, and assures me, after a personal inspection of several, that he is convinced they are of native origin, and peculiar to Scotland. There can be little doubt that Dr. Macculloch's "incontrovertible proofs" are derived, without acknowledgment, from the very dubious authority of the Rev. George Barry, D.D., of Shapinshay. Compare Macculloch, vol. ii. p. 257, and Barry's Orkney, p. 97.
[466] Pennant's Tour, vol. ii. p. 391.
[467] Itiner. Septent. p. 166.
[468] Highlands and Western Islands, vol. ii. p. 250.
[469] Pennant's Tour, vol. ii. p. 391.
[470] Cordiner's Antiquities and Scenery of the North of Scotland.