If "incongruous with the earlier Scottish civilisation" the use of "charm
stones" is not incongruous with the British civilisation of the
nineteenth century.
In the _Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries_ (Scot.) (1902-1903, p.
166 _et seq._) Mr. Graham Callander, already cited, devotes a very
careful essay to such perforated stones, circular or triangular, or
otherwise shaped, found in the Garioch. They are of slate, or "heather
stone," and of various shapes and sizes. Their original purpose is
unknown. The perforation, or cup not perforated, is sometimes in the
centre, in a few cases in "near the end." Mr. Graham Callander heard of
a recent old lady in Roxburghshire, who kept one of these stones, of
irregularly circular shape, behind the door for luck. {88} "It was
always spoken of as a charm," though its ancient maker may have intended
it for some prosaic practical use.
{ Fig. 8: p88.jpg}