Myths and legends ; the Celtic race . almost like a cast of the other. These lines onthe human hand are so distinct and peculiar that, as iswell known, they have been adopted as a method ofidentification of criminals. Can this resemblance be64 HOLED STONES the result of chance ? Nothing like these peculiarassemblages of sculptured lines has ever been foundexcept in connexion with these monuments. Have wenot here a reference to chiromancy—a magical art muchpractised in ancient and even in modern times ? Thehand as a symbol of power was a well-known magicalemblem, and has entered largely even in
Myths and legends ; the Celtic race . almost like a cast of the other. These lines onthe human hand are so distinct and peculiar that, as iswell known, they have been adopted as a method ofidentification of criminals. Can this resemblance be64 HOLED STONES the result of chance ? Nothing like these peculiarassemblages of sculptured lines has ever been foundexcept in connexion with these monuments. Have wenot here a reference to chiromancy—a magical art muchpractised in ancient and even in modern times ? Thehand as a symbol of power was a well-known magicalemblem, and has entered largely even into Christiansymbolism—note, for instance, the great hand sculpturedon the under side of one of the arms of the Cross ofMuiredach at Monasterboice. Holed Stones Another singular and as yet unexplained featurewhich appears in many of these monuments, fromWestern Europe toIndia, is the presenceof a small hole boredthrough one of thestones composing thechamber. Was it anaperture intended forthe spirit of the dead ?or for offerings to. Dolmen at Trie, France(^AJter Gallhabaud) them ? or the channel through which revelations fromthe spirit-world were supposed to come to a priest ormagician ? or did it partake of all these characters } Holed stones, notforming part of adolmen, are, ofcourse, among thecommonest relicsof the ancient cult,and are still vene-rated and used inpractices connected65
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectcelticl, bookyear1910
