1887.] !'->»' [Mooney. 



idea here is similar to that just mentioned. In Connamara for the same 

 trouble ten joints (the knots only) are cut from an oat stalk, nine of which 

 are tied up in a small parcel, while the tenth is thrown away. Tlie parcel 

 is left at the crossroads, and the warts will go to the one who picks it up. 

 The idea here is also common in European folk-lore, and almost the same 

 method is used in Switzerland. The selection of ten similar objects, one 

 of which is afterward thrown away, appears also in the account already 

 given of the child cured of convulsions. It is also proper to mention 

 here that oats are the sacred grain in Irish mythology. 



Another method is, on rising in the morning, to spit upon the hearth 

 while still fasting, and then rub the spittle upon the wart with the second 

 finger. The first finger is never used for rubbing spittle or ointment 

 upon sores of any kind, as it is supposed to have a poisonous effect. The 

 operation is repeated every morning until the wart disappears. 



Another method, used in Galway, is to bathe the wart witli water found 

 lying in a depression in the surface of a rock, saying at the same time : 



" Uisfje cloc'a gan ia/rraid', 

 Ni'g t'iarraid' td me."* 



" Water of a stone without seeking. 

 It's not seeking for you I am." 



As the words of the formula imply, the water must be found accident- 

 ally, no benefit resulting from its application when a deliberate search is 

 made for it. 



In a case resembling asthma, where the patient, a boy about seven years 

 old, felt a constant choking sensation and was rapidly losing flesh, he was 

 taken by the old man who had the cure, and placed standing with his 

 back against a tree growing in a field — the tree, in this instance, being an 

 apple tree. A hole was then bored in the tree just above the child's 

 head, a lock of his hair cutoff and placed in it, and the opening closed up 

 again. Although not mentioned by the informant, some words were 

 undoubtedly repeated at the same time. As the boy grew above the hole 

 in the tree, he grew away from the disease. 



A well-known charm used in cases oi decline, or incipient consumption, 

 may be described by giving an instance, without comment, as related by 

 an eye-witness. A young girl of lively disposition suddenly lost health 

 and spirits, and appeared to be rapidly sinking into the grave, wlien her 

 friends persuaded her to visit an old woman who offered to cure her. On 

 arriving there the woman filled a tumbler with oatmeal, even with the 

 top, and wrapped a thin cloth around it. Then loosening the girl's dress 

 she applied the mouth of the tumbler first to her back, then to her side, 

 and lastly to her bosom. On removing the cloth from the tumbler it was 

 found that half the meal had disappeared. The glass was refilled and the 



* Pronounced, Ish'/a cirikha gun eerree, 

 Nee g<X cheerree thaw mae. 



