118 Account of a Human Body found in a Bog in Ireland. 



dressed as Gildas describes the Scots and Caledonians in the 

 sixth century, that is, simply with a covering or Celt round their 

 middle, and occasionally a mantle across their shoulders. And 

 it is an interesting and important fact, not hitherto noticed, that 

 the names by which these two grand races in Ireland, the Celtae 

 and Belgae, were known, were also used to designate the charac- 

 teristic articles of dress by which they were distinguished. Thus 

 Celt means a small petticoat, and Fir-holg (literally a breeched 

 or bagged man) signified breeches (see O'Clery's old vocabulary 

 MS.). 



The skin dress of the Gauls and Britons called Sac, from 

 whence the Sagum of the Romans is derived by Varro, is ge- 

 nerally thought to have been worn originally as a mantle, and 

 that the name was retained in after times to designate the wool- 

 len garment of the same form. But the dress on the body here 

 described gives reason to believe that supposition erroneous, and 

 that the Sac originally was a close dress, somewhat resembling 

 a bag, in which sense the word was used in the Hebrew and 

 Greek, and is still retained not only in all the Teutonic lan- 

 guages, but also in the Welsh and Irish. Perhaps in its origi- 

 nal signification it simply meant racan or skin. 



This subject would admit of much illustration ; but it must 

 suffice to remark, ihat the long staffs found with this body will 

 remind the reader of the description of the Silures as given by 

 Tacitus, and the flowing hair with which the head was adorned 

 of the usage of the Svevi and other Gothic tribes, as noticed by 

 the same writer. The custom of wearing the hair long, in des- 

 pite of penal statutes, continued almost to our own times, in 

 some of the western parts of Ireland. 



On the present Erroneous and Expensive Systems of Lifo 

 Assurance. By Mr W. Fraser, Edinburgh. 



W HiLE the great utility of Life Assurance has now become 

 very generally known, and begun to be duly appreciated by all 

 classes of the community, the late Parliamentary investigations 

 regarding Friendly Societies, and the Government Annuitants, 

 have produced a great improvement in the details of the science. 



