Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1886-04-17
ABOUT aaockIno STONES"
1es Famous Ones of England and Ireland
-supposed Religious Use

5uppossa Religions USE
Tchicago Timsa.l
Tho good people of Blackstone, Mon
monthshire, England, are mourning the
loss OF their rocking stone, which has
for centuries been the chief attraction
of tho village. Indeed, the town Is
supposed to have derived its name from
the stone. In the old vernacular Of the
country, rocking and bucking were
synonymous. This rocking stone was q
natural block of rock, SO formed and so
poised on a pivot as TO oscillate forward
and backward without losing its equi-
librinm. Ever since the town was set
tied, this stone has been the delight of
J the villagers. As thousands of strangers
have visited the place every year on
purpose TO see this famous stone and to
move II on its pivot, it brought no
small gains" to the stage-driyers and
the owners of inns and ale houses. The
j stone stood on the summit of hill, and
y was, like many similar natural curiosi-
J Ties, the property of the crown. It was
overturned and rolled into the wooded
valley below by the members of variety
company who had been performing in
the town. AS the stone weighs several
tons. and is in an unfavorable position,
It viii probably never be restored to its
original position.
The famous rocking stone of the Mon.
mouthshire village was not the only one
OF the kind in the British islands,
though It was the one most widely
known. Similar stones exist in York.
shire, Derbyshire, Lancashire, Wales,
and Cornwall. They are quite numer.
GUS in Scotland. Not far from Lands
Ind is famous rocking stone, known
as the Logan. Some sixty years ago.
certain Lieut.. Goldsmith, of the royal
navy, overturned the stone, with q
view, he said, to a scientific investiga.
ton. As the admiralty caused him to
restore it to its former position at his
own expense, and as the stone wat
found to weigh ninety tons, he re
pented at leisure and at great expense
for his folly and zeal in making scien
ti6c Investigations.
Ireland has several rocking stonx
which have been carefully guarded by
theinhabitants The one at Islandmagee,
near Browns bay, is the most famous
1t not only rocks when the hand il
pressed on it, or when the wind strikes
it, but it trembles and mods. or Ioca
traditions are not to be trusted, when
ever an unjust landlord, an informer
O process server, or a malefactor ap
proaches near it, 1t is almost needless
to state that it is held in high estima
ton by the people. Rocking stones arr
quite common III Greece, and until re
Gently it was supposed they were shaped
and poised by ancient artisans for som,
unknown purpose. Some of them con
tain inscriptions, which serve tt
strengthen the impression that thu
stones themselves were fashioned b,
artificial means.
The belief was general in Great Brit
ain, till biologists apparently disproveC
the theory, that these rocking stone,
we're fashioned by the Druids, and thai
Lhey made use of them in practicine
their savage rites which they performed
IN the name of religion. That they used
them in their devotional exercises anc
that they employed them to terrify the
people seem likely, but there is no gooc
reason for believing that they shaped
and poised them in the places where
they are found. That they might have
been used by the people who preceded
the Celts for purposes of divination il
probable. In one of the poems of Os
sian men are represented as marching
round one of these stones, singing
Nhymns to the gods and counting th(
number OF vibrations as an augury Of
the issue of an approaching battle
These stones were held in superstitious
veneration long after the introduction
OF Christianity and it was found neees
eary to threaten accommodation
against persons who persisted in PAYNE
homage to rocking stones.
Biologists have theory of their owl
about the origin of rocking stones. The,
state that they are masses of rock which
owe their peculiar shape to the slow de
cay of the softer portions of them. The
decayed portions have washed away
leaving those not likely to become de
composed by the action of the atrnos
phere. The point that becomes pivo
is generally composed of very hard ma
terial, and, being protected by the
portions that project over it, retains it
hardness, Cur Indians had rocking
stones which they regarded with rever
ence, and which they consulted as ora
Giles. One of them is at Devils Lake
Wisconsin, and constitutes one of thu
chief attractions of the place. Hat
biologists not destroyed all sentiment
concerning rocking stones, they woulC
be regarded with more interest thai
they are at present.