on. These
cup and ring cuttings have now been traced along the whole length of the
British Isles, from Dorsetshire to Orkney, and across their whole
breadth from Yorkshire in England to Kerry in Ireland; and in many of
the inland counties in the three kingdoms. They are evidently dictated
by some common thought belonging to some common race of men. But how
very long is it since a common race--or successive waves even of a
common race--inhabited such distant districts as I have just named, and
spread over Great Britain and Ireland, from the English Channel to the
Pentland Firth, and from the shores of the German Ocean to those of the
Atlantic?"

The special value of the inductive treatment of the subject adopted by
Sir James Simpson is here conspicuous; and although no decided
conclusion was come to on the age and meaning of the sculptures, or the
people by whom they were made, yet a reader feels that the utmost has
been made of existing materials; and that, while nothing has been left
untouched which could throw light on the question, a broad and sure
foundation has been laid on which all subsequent research must rest.

One of the Appendices to this volume contains an account of some ancient
sculptures on the walls of certain caves in Fife. The essay originally
appeared as a communication to the Royal Society of Edinburgh in
January 1866, and was also soon afterwards printed separately--"Inscribed
to James Drummond, Esq., R.S.A., as a small token of the Author's very
sincere friendship and esteem."

The discovery of these cave sculptures affords an instance of the
thoroughness which Sir James carried into all his investigations. While
engaged in the preparation of his original paper for the Society of
Antiquaries on the Sculpturing of Cups and Rings, he wished to ascertain
all the localities and conditions of their occurrence. After describing
the sculptured circles and cups which had been found on the stones of
weems and "Picts' Houses," he referred to the caves on the coast of
Fife, which he suggested might be considered as natural weems or
habitations. These he had visited in the hope of discovering
cup-markings; and in one near the village of Easter Wemyss he discovered
faded appearances of some depressions or cups, with small single circles
cut on the wall, adding to his description--"Probably a more minute and
extensive search in these caves would discover many more such carvings."

This was written in 1864; a