96 DOMAIN IX. ANOMALOUS. 



cimens yet discovered are about three feet in 

 circumference; and all over one continued gleam 

 of colour. I have seen many blocks of it greatly 

 larger than the above, but' they had only spots 

 of colour here and there, thinly scattered. The 

 first quantity that was exposed in Edinburgh, 

 was in the year 1790, in a ware- room on the 

 south bridge, by one Shaw, from London, a 

 native of Aberdeenshire, who, I think, keeps a 

 shop of natural history in the Strand ; and was 

 the same person who sold that wonder of nature, 

 the Elastic Stone, to the Honourable Lord Gar- 

 denstone, and which his lordship, with his usual 

 goodness, sent to the ingenious Mr. Weir, and 

 now forms a part of his elegant Museum in 

 Prince's Street, New Town, Edinburgh. Mr. 

 Shaw again paid us a visit so late as November 

 1792, when he exhibited some most brilliant 

 specimens of Labrador spar ; particularly one of 

 fine, extremely bright, and variegated colours ; 

 one pretty large, of the scarce fire-colour with 

 the purple tinge ; and one with gold, blue, and 

 green shades : the first was sold to the celebrated 

 Dr. Black ; the two last are in the elegant col- 

 lection at Morningside. This beautiful stone, 

 when analysed, is found to contain a portion of 

 calcareous matter, and some particles of silver 



