626 REPORT—1896. 
The Styan. 
162. Dalry.—Nine thorns are picked from a gooseberry-bush and 
put into the hand of the patient, who throws them over the left shoulder. 
This was done to my informant. 
Sea-bathing. 
163. Mochrum.— Bathing in the sea is done when the tide is 
ebbing. 
164. Mochrum.—Once bathing in the sea is considered dangerous to 
the health. Several baths must be taken to turn off the evil effects of 
only one bath, and to produce good results. My informant knew a man 
that bathed only once. ‘Blushes,’ i.e. red spots, appeared all over his 
body. 
Deafness. 
165. Kirkmaiden.—Hare’s urine is used as a cure. The bladder is 
taken from the animal, and the urine is squeezed out of it, and allowed to 
drop into the ear. Mr. MacDouall, of Logan, has given a hare for this 
purpose. : 
Nettle-sting. 
166. Dalry.—The burnt part is rubbed with the leaf of a dock, and 
the following words are repeated :— 
Nettle, nettle, gang awa’, 
Dockan, dockan, come again. 
‘ Black Leg’ (Anthraz). 
167. Portlogan.—The animal was groped all over till the spot of the 
disease was found. The skin over the diseased part was cut open, anda 
quantity of chewed garlic was rubbed into the slashes. 
APPENDIX JY, 
On the Method of determining the Value of Folklore as Ethnological Data. 
By G. Laurence Gomme, £.S.A. 
The survey of one distinctive area, such as Galloway, by so well trained 
an observer as Dr. Gregor, has brought into notice a number of customs 
and superstitions differing from each other in form, motif, and in almost 
all characteristics. The question is, Of what value is this material as 
data for ethnology, and how are we to find out the value? The Com- 
mittee engaged upon this important inquiry will have collections from 
other parts of the British Isles, indeed, it is to be hoped, from all parts, 
before their work is finished ; and it is important that at this early stage 
it should be understood upon what basis they are going to work. Dr. 
Gregor has rightly put his collections into the simple form of a catalogue. 
That is the only way in which they should appear fresh from the hands 
of the collector. But other branches of the survey—physical types and 
measurements, material monuments, implements, and other evidence of 
the history of the district from the earliest times—though presented in the 
same unattractive form of a catalogue, are practically all ready to be dealt 
