SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XI. No. 265 



tific world, and highly prized by this Anthropological Society of 

 Washington. I know that there was a large body of manuscript 

 Gaelic literature of considerable antiquity and of high value, espe- 

 cially that portion of it devoted to mythology, heroic tales, chronicles, 

 and law tracts. I hoped, also, there might still remain in the minds 

 of the people of the remote districts of Ireland many idioms useful 

 in explaining the language of the manuscripts, and many myths and 

 tales that would supplement and strengthen the recorded mythol- 

 ogy. I went to Ireland last year, therefore, for the purpose of set- 

 tling this question by actual investigation, and my first step was to 

 make the acquaintance of the few Gaelic scholars in Ireland, and 

 examine the manuscripts preserved in Dublin. 



These manuscripts fill about two thousand volumes, are kept in 

 the Royal Irish Academy and the University of Dublin, and are of 

 various kinds, — histories, chronicles, treatises on law, medicine, 

 astronomy, etc. Among them, and of chief interest to me, were 

 the manuscripts containing the myths and heroic tales of the Gaelic 

 people. These myths and tales, if printed, would fill about ten 

 thousand quarto pages. This is the greatest collection of myths in 

 Europe. It is perfectly unique, both in quality and quantity. 

 Neither in ancient nor modern times had any nation on the main- 

 land of Europe such a collection ; and O'Curry very truly said that 

 the single ' Book of Leinster,' if published to the world, would make 

 the reputation of any nation. 



The ' Book of Leinster ' is but one of many books of its class, 

 though it is the richest of all in contents ; and the ' Book of Lein- 

 ster ' is not yet accessible to the world, though it has, with three 

 other volumes, been placed within the reach of a few Gaelic schol- 

 ars in the form of some. facsi7iizle copies of the original manuscript, 

 with all the contractions and abbreviations, of which several hun- 

 dred were used by scribes in the days before printing. Some of the 

 most important of the Gaelic manuscripts of myths and tales have 

 come to us in unique copies, while a great many others of equal 

 value, known by title or extract, have perished. Merely a wreck, 

 a remnant of the old time, has been saved ; but it is a wreck so ex- 

 tensive as to excite real wonder and thankfulness. 



It is a matter of deep interest, also, to the scientific investigator, 

 to learn that the chronicles of the country, both lay and ecclesias- 

 tical, especially the latter, bring to light a great many phases and 

 forms of thought of pre-Christian times of which we have no record 

 elsewhere. There is no church history in western Europe so val- 

 uable in this respect as that of the Church in Ireland ; for the con- 

 version of the people was voluntary, and the country at that time, 

 and for some centuries later, was free from foreign pressure of every 

 description. All of the ancient beliefs and practices that could pos- 

 bly be permitted, were permitted. Some of these lived on parallel 

 with the Church, and others were incorporated into it. 



After a brief visit in Dublin, where I found assistance, and a most 

 agreeable hospitality from the members of the Royal Irish Academy, 

 the University of Dublin, and the two Gaelic societies, I set out to 

 visit remote places in the west. Without entering into any detailed 

 account, I may state that 1 visited some of the characteristic and se- 

 cluded parts of the west coast, and took down personally a large 

 body of myths and stories, some very long, others not so long. 

 This collection of materials is sufficient to fill a couple of twelve- 

 mo volumes, and will give some idea of what yet remains in the 

 Celtic mind of Ireland. It is, however, but a small part of that 

 mental treasure still in possession of the people. 



One of the largest and finest groups of Gaelic myths is the Ossi- 

 anic, or myths of Fin MacCumhal and the Fenians of Erin. Fin 

 has his immediate personal attendants. He and they possess fixed 

 and well-determined characters, and their names and exploits are 

 familiar to all who have heard the tales of the Fenians of Erin. 

 There are no stories more popular, and they are interlaced with a 

 great number of other important myths of various descriptions. 

 Every place in the land has witnessed the activity with which Fin 

 and his men struggled with every manner of obstacle, and fought 

 with every kind of foe. Fin and Oisin, according to the stories, 

 were born in a great many places in Ireland. Scotland is as full of 

 their activity and birthplaces. Glencoe, the scene of the celebrated 

 massacre, is a birthplace of Oisin. The account given of how these 

 Fenian or Ossianic stories were preserved is remarkable enough. 

 The authorship of them all is attributed to Oisin, the son of Fin 



MacCumhal, who told them to St. Patrick. St. Patrick had them 

 carefully written down ; but he found them so agreeable and enter- 

 taining, as well as so numerous, that he said people would neglect 

 their work and do nothing but listen to these stories, so he destroyed 

 two-thirds of what was told him by Oisin. From the remaining one- 

 third come all the tales of the Fenians now current in Ireland and 

 Scotland. In one of the stories which I collected is a complete ac- 

 count of how Oisin came back from Tir nan Og (the land of youth), 

 after he had been there three hundred years, and told them to St. 

 Patrick. 



The time is coming when mythology may become a science, if 

 scholars will work to that end, but mythology is far from being a 

 science yet. There are many theories and loose statements current 

 about mythology, — 'disease of language," 'sun myths,' 'serpent 

 myths,' etc., — but there is no science in all this. It is fancy, guess- 

 work, efforts of men dealing with insufficient and unsatisfactory 

 materials, collected, in many cases, by incompetent hands or by 

 persons who tamper with materials for the purpose of improving 

 them, or fitting them to some theory. 



There is probably no more striking or interesting case of error 

 than that of Max Miiller, who has founded a whole theory of myth- 

 ology on what he calls a ' disease of language.' Now, Max Mtiller's 

 ' disease of language ' is merely an incident in the history of myth- 

 ology, instead of being, as he makes it, the great central and ger- 

 minal factor, the parent instead of attendant of mythology. Mid- 

 ler's error is one that could never have been made by a man having 

 proper and sufficient materials at hand from mythologies still intact. 

 The things we need, above all, at present, to advance mythology on 

 the way to becoming a science, are fads, and facts in mythology 

 are well-preserved myths. These we need in great number, and in 

 all the variants attainable in each linguistic stock of people. 



Among the different branches of the Arj'an race in Europe, there 

 is none, as I have already stated, having so extensive and well- 

 preserved a mythology as the people of Ireland. This mythology 

 is to be found in two places, — in Gaelic manuscript, and in the 

 minds of the people of the more secluded parts of the island. Only 

 very small portions of the Gaelic manuscripts have been translated, 

 and still smaller portions published ; so that practically this body 

 of material for science is unknown to the world. The work of 

 utilizing it remains to be done. Now, it will be found that the 

 manuscript material can never be properly translated and explained 

 without a knowledge of the words and idioms of the language, as 

 well as the ideas and myths that are in the minds of the Gaelic- 

 speaking people of Ireland. 



The Qualities of Fats. 

 The chemist and microscopist of the Department of Agriculture 

 are engaged in an examination of samples of the lard of commerce^ 

 for the purpose of determining its constituents, and also of discov- 

 ering the best tests for adulteration. Professor Wiley has employed 

 all of the ordinary tests, but gets the best results from one suggested 

 by an Italian chemist, Bechi, in which nitrate of silver is used. 

 Cottonseed-oil, when brought m contact with nitrate of silver, re- 

 duces the latter to a metallic state. Professor Wiley has also begun 

 an interesting series of experiments to determine the refraction of 

 different oily substances. The instrument used is Abbe's refrac- 

 tometer, which shows the index of refraction upon a scale upon its 

 side. There is no literature on this subject, and the tables which 

 Professor Wiley proposes to make will be an interesting contribu- 

 tion to the present knowledge of the qualities of fats. X. 



Washington, D.C., March i. 



HEALTH MATTERS. 



Transmission of Infection by Rags. 



The 'Eighteenth Annual Report of the State Board of Health of 

 Massachusetts ' contains a valuable report by Dr. C. F. Withington, 

 who was requested by the board to investigate the question of the 

 transmission of infectious diseases by means of rags. Dr. Withing- 

 ton's report is very full and complete, and is a very fair and un- 

 biassed statement of the facts as we understand them. His con- 

 clusions are as follows : — 



I. Small-pox has been transmitted through the medium of rags in 

 a certain number of cases, small in proportion to the whole number 



