NEC 
gentleman excellently verfed in the antiquities of that 
people, we have been informed, that not many years ago 
fome of the highlanders relied implicitly upon certain 
oracular refponfes, called in their language taghairm. 
This word feems to be compounded of ta, which in fome 
parts of the Highlands is (till ufed to denote a fpirit or 
■gholt, and ghairm, which fignifies “ calling upon, or in¬ 
voking.” Taghairm, therefore, in its original import, 
is necromancy in the moil proper fenfe of that word. 
There were different kinds of taghairm, of which one 
was very lately pradtifed in Skye. The diviner covered 
himfelf with a cow’s hide, and repaired at night to fome 
deep-founding cave, whither the perl'on who confulted 
him followed foon after without any attendants. At 
the mouth of the cave he propofed aloud the queftions 
of which he wanted folutions; and the man within pro¬ 
nounced the refponfes in a tone of voice fimilar to that 
with which the obs, or pretended demons of antiquity, 
gave from beneath the ground their oracular anfwers. 
That in the latter days of taghairm, the Gaelic diviners 
pretended to evocate gholls, and from them to extort fo¬ 
lutions of difficulties propofed, we have no pofitive evi¬ 
dence; but that fuch was the original pretence there can 
he little doubt, when we refledt either upon the place 
where this fpecies of divination was prafiifed, or upon 
the import of the word by which it was denominated. 
As we have been led to mention taghairm, we ffiall beg 
leave to make a few obfervations on another fpecies of it, 
called taghairm an uj'ge, or “ taghairm by w’ater.” This 
-too was laft prafiifed in the Ille of Skye, by a man of the 
name of M'Cuidhean, whofe anceftors had long been fa¬ 
mous for the art. He lived near a beautiful cafcade on 
a fmall river; and, when confulted on any matter of con- 
fequence, he covered his whole body with a cow’s hide, 
that neceffary implement of Highland divination, and 
placed himlelf between the water of the cafcade and the 
rock over which it flowed. Then another man with a 
heavy pole gave repeated ftrokes to the water, the 
diviner behind it crying out now and then in Gaelic, 
“ Is this a flock of arn ?” This operation was continued 
till M'Cuidhean was perceived to be frantic or furious, 
when he was confidered as in a condition to anfwer the 
moil important queftions. He was frequently confulted 
about futurity, and though he could not, in the proper 
fenfe of the word, be called a necromancer, his refponfes 
were liftened to as proceeding from fomething more than 
human. A degree of frenzy, either real or affedled, feems 
to have accompanied the predidtions of certain kinds of 
diviners in all ages; and we cannot help remarking the 
fimilarity between the madnefs of M‘Cuidhean and that 
of the Sibyl in the fixth book of the fEneid; though we 
cannot fuppofe the one to have been borrowed from the 
other: 
At, Plicehi nowhim pa tiers, immanis in antro 
Bacchatur vales, magnum fi pcflore poJJ'it 
Excufifi'e Deum: tanto magis ille fatigat 
Os rabidum, fera corda donums, fingitque premendo. 
Struggling in vain, impatient of her load, 
And lab’ring underneath the pond’rous god ; 
The more Are ftrove to ffiake him from her breaft, 
With more and far fuperior force he prefs’d. Dryden. 
That all thefe pretences, whether ancient or modern, 
to the power of divination by means of familiar fpirits, 
or by the art of necromancy, were groundlefs as well as 
impious, it would be affronting the underftandings of 
our readers to offer any proof. Under the article Magic 
(and the places there referred to) we have faid enough 
on the fubjedt, and perhaps more than enough, to thofe 
who know that demons, if they have any exiftence, and 
the departed fpirits of good and bad men, are all under 
the controul of Him who governs the intelledlual as well 
as material world by fixed and equal laws. 
NECROMANTIC, f. Trick; conjuration.—-With all 
the necromanticks of their art. Young's Plight-Thoughts. 
NEC 
NECROMANTIC, or Necromantical, adj. Belong¬ 
ing to necromancy; performed by enchantment.—His 
necromantical prophecies. SirT. Brown's Mi [cell. —Strange 
effects performed by necromantich arts. Hallywell's Melam. 
Thy necromantic forms, in vain, 
Haunt us on the tented plain. Warton's Ode. 
NECROMAN'TICALLY, adv. By charms; by con¬ 
juration.—Lamps muft be folemnly burned before it; and 
then, after fome diabolical exorcifms necromantically per¬ 
formed, the head ffiall prove vocal. Gregory. 
NECROP'OLIS, a l’uburb of Alexandria in Egypt, 
wherein there were temples, gardens, and fuperb maufo- 
leums. Here Cleopatra is faid to have applied the afoic 
to her breaft, to prevent being led in triumph by Auguftus. 
For a full account of its prefent ftate, fee the article 
Egypt, vol.vi. p. 350. 
NECRO'SIS, f. [from vey.po;, Gr. dead ] A word fyno- 
nymous with mortification ; but it has been applied more 
particularly to denote the death, or mortification, of a 
part, or the whole, of a bone. 
Sauvages has confounded caries with necrofis; but 
caries differs from necrofis, in the fame refpedts as an 
ulcer of the foft parts differs from gangrene and fpha- 
celus. In caries, the organization and nutrition of the 
bone are only injured, a part of its compofition being re¬ 
moved, yet its vitality continuing. On the contrary, in 
necrofis there is always a portion of bone deprived of nu¬ 
trition and life; and which portion, fince it can no longer 
be fupported like the living part, muft neceffarily be de¬ 
tached. 
The caufes of this diforder are not altogether different 
from fuch as produce ulcers and gangrene in the foft 
parts. As, however, the vital power of the bones is lefs 
than that of the flefli, it is probable that necrofis may be 
brought on by fligluer caufes than thofe which induce 
the preceding affedlions of the foft parts; and it feems 
likely, that fuch caufes as -would only give rife to fup- 
puration of the fleffi, may produce necrofis of the bones.. 
When the periofteum has been injured by external 
violence, fo that it becomes affedled with confiderable 
inflammation, or when it has been more haftily killed by 
the adtion of the cauftic, fire, cold, or other caufes, fuch 
veffels as give nouriffiment to the bone are hurt and de- 
ftroyed, fo that it muft inevitably follow, that the portion 
of bone, which is deprived of the periofteum, muft die. 
But, when the feparated piece of the periofteum, and the 
expofed portion of bone, are of trivial fize; the patient 
young, and in other refpedls healthy; proper antiphlo- 
giftic treatment been purfued; and the veffels ramifying 
within the texture of the bone preferved ; hope may be. 
entertained that granulations will arife from the furface 
of the bone, and an union to the adjoining flefli be efta- 
bliflied. The larger the portion of periofteum is which is 
deftroyed, while the bone itfelf has been bruifed, and long 
expofed to the air, the greater chance is there of a necrofis 
taking place. The reafon to be apprehenfive of fuch 
mifehief is ftill ftronger, when the patient is advanced in 
years, his vital powers on the decline, or his conftitution 
bad. 
According to Weidmann, it is proved by frequent ob- 
fervation, that the vitality of the bones may be deftroyed 
by the effedls of acute malignant fevers, exanthemata, 
fmall-pox, and meaftes. When the habit is fcrofulous, 
or affedled with lues venerea, or feurvy, writers alfo in¬ 
form us that a necrofis may more readily occur. It is 
remarked, alfo, that quickfilver, which, when judicioufly 
employed, is capable of preventing necrofis in venereal 
cales, may become a caufe of fuch mifehief, particularly 
in the lower jaw, if too much of the ointment has been 
rubbed in, or the fridtions have been made without fuf- 
ficient intervals, or the patient has expofed himfelf to the 
cold, lived improperly, &c. 
In order to diftinguiffi caries from necrofis, it ought 
to be underftood, that the former difeale, for the moft 
part. 
