A crystal ball known as the Currahmore Crystal, because it is kept at the seat of that name belonging to the Marquis of Waterford, has long enjoyed and still enjoys the repute of possessing magical powers. It is of rock-crystal, and the legend runs that one of the Le Poers brought it from the Holy Land, where it had been given him by the great crusader Godefroy de Bouillon (1058-1100). The ball is a trifle larger than an orange and a silver ring encircles it at the middle. The chief and much-prized virtue of this crystal is its power to cure cattle of any one of the many distempers to which they are subject. Its application for this purpose is rather peculiar, for the cattle are not touched with it, but driven up and down a stream in which it has been laid. Not only in the immediate neighborhood of Currahmore is resort had to this magic stone by the peasants, but requests for its loan are often made from far distant parts of Ireland. The privilege is almost always accorded and has never been abused, the crystal being in every case conscientiously returned to its rightful owner.[337] The names “ghost-crystals,” “phantom-crystals,” “spectre-crystals,” “shadow-crystals,” etc., are applied to a form of quartz in which the crystallization was interrupted from time to time, so that in the transparent successive layers there is an occasional opaque layer, often no thicker than the finest possible dusting of a whiter material. Sometimes as many as fifteen or twenty of these successive growths are observable, one over the other. When these crystals are in the natural form, they show beautifully from the sides and ends. Sometimes such crystals are found after they have been rolled in the beds of mountain torrents until they have become entirely opaque, but when the surfaces are polished, the “phantom,” “spectre,” or “ghost,” appears with wonderful beauty. Occasionally the entire crystal has been worn down to a small part of the original prism, in which case it is cut into a ball. The ball may seem to be absolutely pure, but when held in certain lights little tent-like markings can often be observed; sometimes only one marking is visible, but there may be as many as twenty. These are occasionally due to a layer of smoky material, and, though they add a charm to the ball, they detract from its value. Nevertheless, crystal-gazers may find an additional interest when the “ghostly” or “spectral” interior exists in a crystal ball. This growth is similar in kind to that seen at times in opaque quartz, forming what is known as cap-quartz; here the crystallizations can frequently be broken apart so that they fit one over the other in many successive layers. Occasionally the regular crystalline development will be interrupted, as it were, and in place of the original crystal continuing its growth harmoniously, a larger crystal will form on a smaller one, forming a sort of mushroom, or “cap,” or “stilt” quartz, as it is termed.