1)1! AUCHIl'.ALli'S •' (JUKlOSri'lKS OK DUMPIIIES." 03 



very consecutive but a very iiiteresting paper. l)r Archibald 

 appeared to belong to that old school of physicians who were 

 good classical scholars. There were incidental references in the 

 paper which struck him that he probably got his classics and 

 medicine in Holland, wheie a great many of our medical men and 

 ministers were educated in those days, and it would be interesting 

 to inquire whether it was at the University of Leydeu or one of 

 the other Dutch universities that had such a great reputation last 

 century. About some of the topographical details it was interest- 

 ing to note that part of (ii'eyfriars' Church was still standing, but 

 there was a reference to Comyn's Castle, and also to the Castle of 

 Dumfries, which seemed to bear upon a very able discussion by 

 Mr Dickie (in " Dumfries and Round About") as to the original 

 Castle of Dumfries. He thought Mr Dickie's theory was that 

 Comyn's Castle was the original Castle of Dumfries, and they 

 found Dr Archibald speaking of Comyn's Castle and the Castle of 

 Dumfries. As to the derivation of Ruthwell, it was new to him, 

 but it seemed to sin against a fundamental law of derivation — 

 that is, if you had two derivations, reject the most obvious one. 

 It looked to be too obvious. He thought the derivation that Dr 

 Ross had indicated would be much more like the thing. 



Mr Barbour : Why not take Sir Herbert Maxwell's sugges- 

 tion, " Rudewell ?" '• D " in Welsh is " th," and if we take it in 

 the same light as in the case of Ruthwell Cross, that would be 

 Rudewell. 



Dr Ross : But if you take the common pronunciation of the 

 parish amongst the inhabitants, I think it supports the other 

 derivation. The common pronunciation is Rivvel. They never 

 speak of it as Ruthwell. 



Mr Cairns said he thought the Norse settlements in Dumfries- 

 shire, such as Tinwald, Torthorwald, Mouswald, would afford 

 material for an interesting paper. He had much pleasure in con- 

 veying the thanks of the meeting to Mr Macdonald. 



Mr Macdonald, in replying, said he accepted the vote, but he 

 did so with the assurance that he himself deserved no credit what- 

 ever for putting the paper together. He was only sorry that the 

 paper as he had presented it was so different from what he knew 

 it was intended to be. He thought possibly one of the lessons 

 that would have been enforced would have been what Mr Barbour 

 suggested— the degree of crrdulity that obtained in those days 



