Research carried out by Peter O'Reilly (in the Rennes Observer April 2005) confirms that Monsieur Cailhol of Alet indeed knew Henri Boudet, and was perhaps an intermediary for him. In the "Mémoires de l'Académie royale des sciences, inscriptions et belles-lettres de Toulouse", 1877 (SER7,T9): we find the following entry:
"MEDAILLE D’ARGENT DE RE CLASSE. M Cailhol, à Toulouse (Collection de fossiles)." [Silver medal, first class. M. Cailhol, Toulouse (Collection of fossils)].
"M. Cailhol, avocat à Toulouse, a profité d’un séjour de quatre mois à Rennes-les-Bains pour recueillir les fossiles de cette station bien connue des géologues. [...] M. Cailhol se propose d’augmenter encore cette année sa belle collection et de faire une étude suivie de la région qu’il a si heureusement explorée."
[“M. Cailhol, a barrister (attorney) in Toulouse, has made the most of a four month stay at Rennes-les-Bains to collect fossils from this resort that is well-known to geologists. [...] M. Cailhol intends to increase his collection again this year and to make a sustained study of this region that he has investigated so successfully.” SeeHERE]
Monsieur Cailhol, collecting fossils and stones in the area of Rennes-les-Bains is also mixed up with another bizarre stone given to him. This is the now famous 'Head of the Saviour'. CAILHOL is alleged to have taken possession of the 'Head of the Saviour' according to Boudet in his 'La Vrai Langue Celtique' - where he writes; "[towards] the spa and the parish church, are the ......rocks carrying the name "Cap de l'homme’ .... A menhir was kept[preserved]at this place and it was on its top, that a carved relief of a magnificent head of the Lord Jesus the Saviour of mankind was found. This statue which saw nearly 18 centuries has given to this part of the plateau the name ‘Cap de l’homme’ (head man: man par excellence, filius hominis). It is deplorable that we have been obliged, in the month of December 1884 to remove the beautiful sculpture of the place - it was to save it from the ravages produced by the pick-axe of an unfortunate young man, who was far from suspecting its meaning and value. (Note: "This carved head of Christ is in the hands of Mr. CAILHOL Alet).
Does it seem odd that this Monsieur Cailhol is in posession of two bizarre stones as given to him by Boudet? U. Gibert and G. Rancoule discuss this 'Head of the Saviour'. (See here). They say that the "sculptured head,....is currently sealed in the presbytery of Rennes les Bains". It seems - however - on further investigation that this head was one of two, and that the two heads have been completely confused with each other. The above authors say:
"Even taking into account the fragility of human testimony after such a period, it seems likely that we are dealing with two different heads: Year of discovery 1884 and 1898 , an interval of 14 years - One head male, the other female. Head fixed on top of a rock, the other a block. First head went to Mr. CAILHOL, the second head was sealed in the wall of the presbytery by the mason MARTIN.
But the location of the finds are the same: the rock called "Cap de l’homme’ on the boundary and along the Pla de la Côte or Bruyères. We have checked that the sandstones forming the rocks of the Pla are similar to that of the head. It seems reasonable to conclude positively".
Christian ATTARD, on his excellent website refers to another head and wonders if this is the 'real head' of the Saviour. It is found in the cave at Galamus and what is more it is associated with a SATOR square, a point added by Plantard and Cherisey years down the line. Attard writes:
"...this head[of the Saviour]was ... extracted from the rock where it was carved and there is nodoubt here that we are dealing with a man with a beard[perhaps carved as a representation of Christ]and it could well be mistaken for the Saviour. ... Boudet tells us that this head of the Saviour was given at some point to Constantin Cailhol of Alet. He was a skilled explorer, says Boudet, and the discovery, says the priest of Rennes-les-Bains, seems to be associated with acave of Bize (Aude), and he mentioned a few times in his book "The true Celtic language." On page 241 Boudet talks about a wheel and he reiterated that the wheel fragment of which he speaks is also in the possession of Mr. Constantin Cailhol. Knowing the way Boudet used certain explanations to describe the etymological meaning of words many saw his explanation as a repeated reference to the key: cai / key and the cave, the cave hole".
Cave, key, head of the Saviour, Cailhol, two stones - a head and a wheel/millstone? The name of Constantine also opened multiple hypotheses too - a cave where we find a 'head' that could be mistaken for the Saviour with a SATOR square?
Back to our wheel. Here is what Boudet said:"What determines our thought is the millstone fragments - cast iron, removed from the ground during November 26, 1884, by workmen, below Borde-Neuve while the construction of the road from Rennes-les-Bains to Sougraigne was taking place." Boudet then notes that this millstone fragment is in the possession of M.Constantin Cailhol, of Alet!
Exhibited in the main cave at Galamus - there are several fragments of ancient wheels marked with the famous monogram of Christ! Can it be that Mr. Constantin Cailhol or his family have donated the most cumbersome parts of the wheel come millstone to the hermits at Galamus? The question is not negligible because to my knowledge, I have not seen anywhere else these type of wheels on show next to a portrait of a 'Saviour' [which was originally engraved out of rock]. And it must be recognized here that we have many recurring elements in our history in the Galamus hermit cave, that of St Antoine, Teniers, the chrism and thus sign by which you will conquer ... as well as a millstone shaped in a circle/wheel with a a carved relief of a magnificent head of the Lord Jesus the Savioursitting on top of a SATOR square!
