1S87.] 1"! [Mooney. 



while still another is to rub the spot with spittle upon the second finger for 

 three successive mornings. 



The black tongue in csitt\e is caWed bolg-feanrja,* or "swelled tongue," 

 and is sometimes cured by bleeding the animal in the tail, but more often 

 by reciting the following charm, by means of which the Blessed Virgin, 

 while one day walking with her Son, cured the cow of a poor widow, who 

 was unable to give them a drink of milk on account of the illness of the 

 animal : 



" 'N aroid a c'uir Maire go h'o G'ual-an-daire, 

 feid' a druime go feid' a siorra ; 



Air b'uinn, air c'enn, air b'o-g'eimneac, air g'alra truad', 

 Agus air lein'eas na bolg-feanga." f 



Cual-andaire, which is evidently a compound word,is explained as the 

 name of the village where the widow lived, while buinn and cenn appear 

 to be the names of two cattle diseases. The Gaelic may be thus rendered : 



" The charm which Mary put on the cow of Cual-an-dherra, 

 From the sinew of her back to the sinew of lier pastern, 

 For bHinn, for cenn, for the groaning cow, for the wasting sickness, 

 And for a cure of the swelled tongue." 



There is another contagious cattle disease, which generally attacks 

 young animals of the best breeds, and is known in the Gaelic districts as 

 ceat'ram'a-d'ub',X the "black quarter," and elsewhere as black-leg or 

 quarter-ail. It begins with a slight lameness in one of the quarters, which 

 soon swells and becomes discolored, and in a very short time the animal 

 dies, the instances of recovery being extremely rare. In Kerry, as soon 

 as the animal is dead, the affected quarter is cut off and hung up in the 

 chimney, in the belief that this will prevent the spread of the contagion. 

 As the infection may be communicated to the other cattle by smelling the 

 diseased part, and as there is alwaj's danger that the buried carcass may 

 be rooted up by hogs or dogs, there seems to be something in this method 

 to recommend it. 



Any one who licks a lizard three times along the under side from the 

 tail to the head can cure a burn by applying his tongue to the injured part 

 three or nine times. This may have some connection with the old sala- 

 mander theory. In Galway, on receiving an accidental burn, it is custo- 

 mary to ejaculate : Lab'ras easbal agits Dia d'a f'reaHtail,% "Lawrence, 

 the apostle {sic) and God to care for it." In Meath they exclaim, Morra 



* Pronouuced hulao-honga. 

 t Pronouuced : 



'Ndropj a khilir Muira fjd woe Khual-an-dhcrra, 



fae a dhn'tma gO fae a sherra, 



Er win, er khen, cr woe-yacmndkh, er ghawlra thrua, 



Ogiis er I'l/ice na bUlag-honga. 

 X I'rouounced in Kerry carhoo-ghoov. 

 \ Pronounced Loivarax asbal 6gas jea ghaw raslhal. 



PROC. AMEK. PHILOS. SOC. XXIV. 125. U. PRINTED JUNE 4, 1887. 



