ch, and placed in a setting (see
Fig. 18) of four silver bands or slips. The following account of the
Ardvoirloch curing-stone is from the pen of one of the present members
of that ancient family:--

"It has been in the possession of our family from _time immemorial_, but
there is no writing about it in any of the charters, nor even a
tradition as to _when_ and _how_ it became possessed of it. It is
supposed to have been brought from the _East_, which supposition is
corroborated by the fact of the silver setting being recognised as of
Eastern workmanship. Its healing powers have always been held in great
repute in our own neighbourhood, particularly in diseases of cattle. I
have even known persons come for the water into which it has been dipped
from a distance of forty miles. It is also believed to have other
properties which you know of.

"These superstitions would have existed up to the present day, had I not
myself put a stop to them; but six years ago, I took an opportunity to
do away with them, by depositing the stone with some of the family plate
in a chest which I sent to the bank. Thus, when applied to for it (which
I have been since then), I had the excuse of not having it in my
possession; and when the Laird returns from India, it is hoped the
superstition may be forgotten, and "the stone" preserved only as a very
precious _heirloom_.

"I may mention that there were various forms to be observed by those who
wished to benefit by its healing powers. The person who came for it to
Ardvoirloch was obliged to draw the water himself, and bring it into the
house in some vessel into which this stone was to be dipped. A bottle
was filled and carried away; and in its conveyance home, if carried into
any house by the way, the virtue was supposed to leave the water; it was
therefore necessary, if a visit had to be paid, that the bottle should
be left outside."

Other charm-stones enjoyed, up to the present century, no small medical
reputation among the inhabitants of the Highlands. In some districts,
every ancient family of note appears to have affected the possession of
a curing-stone. The Campbells of Glenlyon have long been the hereditary
proprietors of a charm-stone similar to those that I have already
mentioned. It consists of a roundish or ovoidal ball, apparently of
rock-crystal, about an inch and a half in diameter, and protected by a
silver mounting. To make the water in which it was dipped sufficiently
medi