in natural history, a distinct genus of stones, composed of separate and very large concretions rudely compacted together; of great hardness, giving fire with steel, not fermenting with acids, and slowly and imperfectly calcinable in a great fire.

Of this genus there are three species: 1. The hard white granite, with black spots, commonly called moor-stone: this is a very valuable kind, consisting of a beautiful congeries of very variously constructed and differently coloured particles, not diffused among or running in one another, but each pure and distinct, though firmly adhering to whichever of the others it comes in contact with, and forming a very firm mass: it is much used in London for the steps of public buildings, and on other occasions where great strength and hardness are required. 2. The hard red granite, variegated with black and white, and common in Egypt and Arabia. 3. The pale whitish granite, variegated with black and yellow. This is sometimes found in strata, but more frequently in loose nodules, and is used for paving the streets.