VOL. XXVIII.] PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. 21 



land; for whereas theirs may be half a mile long, ours seldom exceed a yard. 

 Our lime quarries yield two or three bodies congenerous with it, though of a 

 very different form ; and perhaps all may be referrible to the coralline class, the 

 second in my catalogue. 



Our travels in the Highlands of Scotland, were through Cantire, Argyle, 

 and Lorn, besides the isles of Macychormic, Mul, and y Columb Kil ; and in 

 the Lowlands through Glasgow, Sterling, and Edinburgh. We met with 

 several inscriptions, but none of them Roman, nor indeed ancient : however, 

 we copied all we met of 200 years standing, &c. for the sake of the orthography 

 of the Irish names, which are written differently from what they are now. We 

 also took figures of some broaches, or silver and brass fibulae, used by the 

 women to clasp their koleriv, a garment answering our nightrails. But we were 

 most diverted with their variety of amulets; many of which, if not all, were 

 certainly used by the Druids, and so have been handed down from paren^^s to^ 

 children ever since. Some of these may be rendered in English, I. Snake- 

 button. 2. Cock-knee stone. 3. Toad-stone. 4. Snail-stone. 5. Mole-stone. 

 6. Shower-stone ; and, 7. Elf-arrow. 



1 . The snake-button is the same described in the notes on Denbighshire in 

 Camden, by the name of adder-beads : but there is a great variety of these, as 

 to colour and ornament; so that between Wales and the Highlands, I have seen 

 at least 50 differences of them. In Ireland, though they are tenacious enough 

 of all old customs, I could hear nothing of them, and conclude, that either the 

 Irish had no Druids, or that their want of snakes frustrated their advancing 

 that imposture among the people. Not only the vulgar, but even gentlemen 

 of good education throughout all Scotland, are fully persuaded that the snakes 

 make them, though they are as plainly glass as any in a bottle.* 



2. The cock-knee stone is an echinites pileatus minor, of Flint ; which they, 

 firmly believe is sometimes found in the knees of old cocks. 



3. The toad-stone is some pebble, remarkable for its shape and sometimes 

 variety of colours. This is supposed to prevent the burning of a house, and 

 the sinking of a boat: and if a commander in the field has one of them about 

 him, he will either be sure to win the day, or all his men fairly die on the spot. 



4. The snail -stone is a small hollow cylinder of blue glass, composed of four 

 or five annulets, and as to form and size, resembles a middling entrochus. This 

 among others of its mysterious virtues, cures sore eyes. 5, The mole- stones 

 are rings of blue glass, annulated as the aforesaid snail stones. 6. They have 



* For some account of this superstition in Wales, see Pennant's British Zoology, vol. Hi. p. 2,0 

 under the article Viper. 



