STONES, in Natural History, have been defined bodies which are insipid, not ductile, nor inflammable, nor soluble in water. For a view of the classification of stones, and of their distribution, see Mineralogy and Geology.

Some philosophers say that stones are vegetables; that they grow and increase in size like a plant. This theory, we believe, was first offered to the world by Μ. Tournefort, in the year 1702, after returning from his travels in the East. It was founded on a curious fact. In surveying the labyrinth of Crete, he observed that the names which visitors bad engraved upon the rock were not formed of hollow, but of prominent letters, like basso-relievos. He supposes that these letters were at first hollowed out by knives; that the hollows have since been filled up by the growth of the stone; and hence he concludes that stones vegetate. We wish we were fully assured of the fact, that the letters were at first hollowed, before we attempt to account for their prominency. But even allowing the supposition to be true that they were at first hollow, we reply it is only a single fact, and that from a single fact it is altogether unphilosophical to deduce a general system. In the second place, this protuberancy of the characters is very improperly called vegetation, for it is not produced by a process in any respect like the vegetation of a plant. Vegetation supposes vessels containing fluids, and growth by expansion; but who ever heard of vessels in a stone, of fluids moving in them, or of the different parts expanding and swelling like the branch or trunk of a tree? Even the fact which Tournefort mentions proves nothing. He does not pretend to say that the rock itself is increasing, but only that a few small hollows are filled with new stony matter, which rises a little above the surrounding surface of the rock. This matter evidently has been once liquid, and at length has congealed in the channel into which it had run. But is not this easily explained by a common process, the formation of stalactites? When water charged with calcareous matter is exposed to the action of air, the water evaporates, and leaves the calcareous earth behind, which hardens and becomes like a stone.

Hocking Stone, or Logan, a stone of a prodigious size, so exactly poised that it would rock or shake with the smallest force. Of these stones the ancients give us some account. Pliny says, that at Harpasa, a town of Asia, there was a rock of such a wonderful nature, that if touched with the finger it would shake, but could not be moved from its place with the whole force of the body. Ptolemy mentions a gygonian stone near the ocean, which was agitated when struck by the stalk of an asphodel, but could not be removed by a great exertion of force. The word gygonius seems to be Celtic; for gwingog signifies motitans, the rocking stone.

Many rocking stones are to be found in different parts of this island; some natural, others artificial, or placed in their position by human art. In the parish of St Lcven, Cornwall, there is a promontory called Castle Treryn. On the western side of the middle group, near the top, lies a very large stone, so evenly poised that any hand may move it from one side to another; yet it is so fixed on its base that no lever nor any mechanical force can remove it from its present situation. It is called the Logan-stone, and is at such a height from the ground that no person can believe that it was raised to its present position by art. But there[7:20:737] are other rocking stones, which are so shaped and so situated, that there can be no doubt but they were erected by human strength. Of this kind Borlase thinks the great Quoit or Karn-lehau, in the parish of Ty widnek, to be. It is thirty-nine feet in circumference, and four feet thick at a medium, and stands on a single pedestal. There is also a remarkable stone of the same kind in the island of St Agnes in Scilly. The under rock is ten feet six inches high, forty-seven feet round the middle, and touches the ground with no more than half its base. The upper rock rests on one point only, and is so nicely balanced that two or three men with a pole can move it. It is eight feet six inches high, and forty-seven in circumference. On the top there is a basin hollowed out, three feet eleven inches in diameter at a medium, but wider at the brim, and three feet deep. From the globular shape of this upper stone, it is highly probable that it was rounded by human art, and perhaps even placed on its pedestal by human strength. In Sithney parish, near Helston, in Cornwall, stood the famous logan or rocking stone, commonly called Men Amber, q. d. Men an Bar, or the top-slone. It was eleven feet by six, and four high, and so nicely poised on another stone that a little child could move it, and all travellers who came this way desired to see it. But Shrubsall, Cromwell’s governor of Pendennis, with much ado caused it to be undermined, to the great grief of the country. There are some marks of the tool on it, and, from its quadrangular shape, it was probably dedicated to Mercury.

That the rocking stones are monuments erected by the Druids, has by some writers been taken for granted; but tradition has not informed us for what purpose they were intended. Mr Toland thinks that the Druids made the people believe that they alone could move them, and that by a miracle; and that by this pretended miracle they condemned or acquitted the accused, and brought criminals to confess what could not otherwise be extorted from them. How far this conjecture is right, we shall leave to those who are deeply versed in the knowledge of antiquities to determine.

Sonorous Stone, a kind of stone remarkable for emitting an agreeable sound when struck, and much used in China for making musical instruments which they call king. The various kinds of sonorous stones known in China differ considerably from one another in beauty, and in the strength and duration of their tone; and what is very surprising is, that this difference cannot be discovered either by the different degrees of their hardness, weight, or fineness of grain, or by any other qualities which might be supposed to determine it. Some stones are found remarkably hard, which are very sonorous; and others exceedingly soft, which have an excellent tone; some extremely heavy emit a very sweet sound; and there are others as light as pumice-stone which have also an agreeable sound.