having been chosen, a thick bed of brushwood and branches was floated over it. On this a circular raft of trunks of trees was formed, and upon it additional layers of logs and brushwood, together with stones and gravel were heaped till the whole mass grounded. As this process went on, upright piles of oak of the requisite length were inserted into holes prepared in the horizontal logs, which were here and there pinned together with stout oaken pegs. Here and there, too, and at various levels oak beams were laid right across the raft, mortised into each other, and secured to the surrounding piles. When sufficiently above the water-line, the top of the island was covered with a pavement of oak beams, and mortised beams were laid over the tops of the encircling piles. By an elaborate arrangement of beams and stones, the sides of the island were made to slope, so as to give greater breadth at the base than at the top. Around the surface of the island a rough breast work was then constructed, and within or attached to this the hut or huts were raised. Frequently a submerged gangway was laid from the crannog to the nearest shore, by means of which secret access could be obtained to the island without the use of a canoe; and the whole was finished by the erection of one or more lines of enclosing palisades.* Bearing in mind,' says Dr. Munro, that all these structures were solidly put together without nails or bolts, and that the gangways which have remained permanently fixed to the present time had neither joint nor mortise, we may fearlessly challenge modern science to produce better results under these or indeed any circumstances.'

That these singular and indeed remarkable constructions were used as permanent and not as occasional dwellings, we do not doubt. The opinion has been advanced that they were used mainly as summer retreats and as places of occasional refuge, on the ground chiefly that, where a crannog is found, a fort is usually found on some neighbouring hill-top. We cannot now enter upon a discussion of this opinion, but it seems to us wholly untenable. The probability is that in the fort and in the crannog we have the dwellings and strongholds

of two distinct races: in the fort of the Celts, and in the crannog of the neolithic tribes who preceded them. That the Celts used the crannogs, there can probably be no doubt; nor can there be that the crannogs have had many occupants. That of Lochlee seems to have been abandoned and re-occupied no fewer than three times, with considerable periods. intervening. The fact that the lowermost of the hearths was found some three feet below the surface of the log-pavement would seem to point to the subsidence or submergence of the structure, and to its subsequent discovery and re-occupation; while the discovery of stone, bronze, and iron implements in all the crannogs points to the fact that they were the dwellingplaces of many generations, the history of perhaps the greater number of which has still to be written.

THERE

ART. V.—AGNOSTICISM.

HERE have been two extreme opinions in the history of Christendom regarding the limits of human knowledgeGnosticism and Agnosticism. The former is the scientific creed of the second Christian century; the latter is the scientific tendency of the nineteenth. The Gnostics are the men who know; the Agnostics are the men who do not know. Gnosticism says: Man has or may have a faculty by which he can know the Infinite; he has only to shut his eyes upon the outer world, and to entrance himself in a reverie of mystic contemplation, and there will enter into his soul experiences beyond human experience-thoughts which transcend all earthly ideas-the waves of a life which never flowed from the rivers of time. Agnosticism says: Man has no faculty for the knowledge of the Infinite. Not only is he unable to know the Infinite, he is incapable of knowing any finite thing outside the range of experience. All his ideas have entered through the five gates of the senses, and

having been chosen, a thick bed of brushwood and branches was floated over it. On this a circular raft of trunks of trees was formed, and upon it additional layers of logs and brushwood, together with stones and gravel were heaped till the whole mass grounded. As this process went on, upright piles of oak of the requisite length were inserted into holes prepared in the horizontal logs, which were here and there pinned together with stout oaken pegs. Here and there, too, and at various levels oak beams were laid right across the raft, mortised into each other, and secured to the surrounding piles. When sufficiently above the water-line, the top of the island was covered with a pavement of oak beams, and mortised beams were laid over the tops of the encircling piles. By an elaborate arrangement of beams and stones, the sides of the island were made to slope, so as to give greater breadth at the base than at the top. Around the surface of the island a rough breastwork was then constructed, and within or attached to this the hut or huts were raised. Frequently a submerged gangway was laid from the crannog to the nearest shore, by means of which secret access could be obtained to the island without the use of a canoe; and the whole was finished by the erection of one or more lines of enclosing palisades.* Bearing in mind,' says Dr. Munro, that all these structures were solidly put together without nails or bolts, and that the gangways which have remained permanently fixed to the present time had neither joint nor mortise, we may fearlessly challenge modern science to produce better results under these or indeed any circumstances.'

That these singular and indeed remarkable constructions were used as permanent and not as occasional dwellings, we do not doubt. The opinion has been advanced that they were used mainly as summer retreats and as places of occasional refuge, on the ground chiefly that, where a crannog is found, a fort is usually found on some neighbouring hill-top. We cannot now enter upon a discussion of this opinion, but it seems to us wholly untenable. The probability is that in the fort and in the crannog we have the dwellings and strongholds

of two distinct races: in the fort of the Celts, and in the crannog of the neolithic tribes who preceded them. That the Celts used the crannogs, there can probably be no doubt; nor can there be that the crannogs have had many occupants. That of Lochlee seems to have been abandoned and re-occupied no fewer than three times, with considerable periods intervening. The fact that the lowermost of the hearths was found some three feet below the surface of the log-pavement would seem to point to the subsidence or submergence of the structure, and to its subsequent discovery and re-occupation; while the discovery of stone, bronze, and iron implements in all the crannogs points to the fact that they were the dwellingplaces of many generations, the history of perhaps the greater number of which has still to be written.

ART. V.-AGNOSTICISM.

THERE have been two extreme opinions in the history of Christendom regarding the limits of human knowledgeGnosticisin and Agnosticism. The former is the scientific creed of the second Christian century; the latter is the scientific tendency of the nineteenth. The Gnostics are the men who know; the Agnostics are the men who do not know. Gnosticism says: Man has or may have a faculty by which he can know the Infinite; he has only to shut his eyes upon the outer world, and to entrance himself in a reverie of mystic contemplation, and there will enter into his soul experiences beyond human experience-thoughts which transcend all earthly ideas-the waves of a life which never flowed from the rivers of time. Agnosticism says: Man has no faculty for the knowledge of the Infinite. Not only is he unable to know the Infinite, he is incapable of knowing any finite thing outside the range of experience. All his ideas have entered through the five gates of the senses, and

having been chosen, a thick bed of brushwood and branches was floated over it. On this a circular raft of trunks of trees was formed, and upon it additional layers of logs and brushwood, together with stones and gravel were heaped till the whole mass grounded. As this process went on, upright piles of oak of the requisite length were inserted into holes prepared in the horizontal logs, which were here and there pinned together with stout. oaken pegs. Here and there, too, and at various levels oak beams were laid right across the raft, mortised into each other, and secured to the surrounding piles. When sufficiently above the water-line, the top of the island was covered with a pavement of oak beams, and mortised beams were laid over the tops of the encircling piles. By an elaborate arrangement of beams and stones, the sides of the island were made to slope, so as to give greater breadth at the base than at the top. Around the surface of the island a rough breastwork was then constructed, and within or attached to this the hut or huts were raised. Frequently a submerged gangway was laid from the crannog to the nearest shore, by means of which secret access could be obtained to the island without the use of a canoe; and the whole was finished by the erection of one or more lines of enclosing palisades.* Bearing in mind,' says Dr. Munro, that all these structures were solidly put together without nails or bolts, and that the gangways which have remained permanently fixed to the present time had neither joint nor mortise, we may fearlessly challenge modern science to produce better results under these or indeed any circumstances.'

That these singular and indeed remarkable constructions were used as permanent and not as occasional dwellings, we do not doubt. The opinion has been advanced that they were used mainly as summer retreats and as places of occasional refuge, on the ground chiefly that, where a crannog is found, a fort is usually found on some neighbouring hill-top. We cannot now enter upon a discussion of this opinion, but it seems to us wholly untenable. The probability is that in the fort and in the crannog we have the dwellings and strongholds