21*2 PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. [aNNO 16Q7' 



for the king's evil. There is a rill, of about an ell [broad, between 2 col- 

 lines, covered with wood; about 12 yards from this spring, the rill falls 

 from a rock 8 or Q feet high, which makes a grateful noise. The spring is 

 very clear, and comes out of a pure white marl. I thought there had been 

 no white marl in Wales, for the earth is red. A graduate doctor here im- 

 putes the virtue of this spring to the lime stone, and says one of the chief 

 remedies of the doctors, for the king's evil, is lime-water. 



Observations on the JVestern Islands of Scotland, By Mr. Martin. 



N°233, p. 727. 

 All the tribes of fowls are observed to have their sentinels, especially in the 

 night : the watchfulness of the scart is true to a proverb. The want of rain 

 at the usual time of laying eggs, hinders the sea fowls from laying for some 

 time. If the April moon go fiir in May, it hinders the sea fowls from laying 

 10 or 12 days longer than is ordinary. A poor man of Rowdil, in the Isle 

 Harries, known by the name of St. Clement's Blind, though his sight served 

 him to travel alone through all Harries, Skie, &c. yet he was struck blind 2 

 days before the new moon, but at that instant he recovers his sight ; in this 

 he never erred once in his life time, whence he was called the infallible almanac. 

 The children of Ferintosh in Ross, are taught from their infancy to drink aqua- 

 vitae, and are never observed to be troubled with worms. There are many in 

 the highlands, who pretend not to any skill in surgery, and yet venture to cut 

 off the uvula when they are troubled with it, and prescribe with success for a 

 remedy after it a piece of bread and cheese. In many of the isles, the common 

 people apply spearwort for pains in the head : being bruised and applied, it 

 raises a blister, from which issues much matter, and this they find very effectual 

 for pains in eyes, head, arms or legs. They also beat the juice out of it, 

 which they drink for a looseness, frequently with good success : and to prevent 

 excoriation of the throat, they drink a little melted fresh butter. A boy of 16, 

 in the Isle of Skie, has a faculty of erecting his ears at his pleasure. The in- 

 habitants of St. Kilda are every summer afflicted with a cough, which lasts for 

 10 or 12 days ; and the usual remedy for it is giben, drank on brochan of meal 

 and water. This giben is the fat of sea fowls preserved in the stomach, a 

 sovereign remedy for coughs and green wounds. 



Some Additions to a former Letter on Thujider and Lightning. By Dr. PVallis. 



N° 233, p. 729. 

 When I said, in my former letter, "A mixture of sulphur and filings of steel, 

 with the admission of a little water, will not only cause a great effervescence, 

 but will of itself break forth into an actual fire :" I said expressly, a little water; 



