ve of St. Ninian at
Whitehorn, or the cross of St. Mungo in the Cathedral churchyard at
Glasgow; the sovereign virtues of the waters of wells used by various
anchorets, and dedicated to various saints throughout the country; the
curative powers of holy robes, bells, bones, relics, etc.

Numerous forms of medical superstitions, charms, amulets, incantations,
etc., derived from the preceding channels, and possibly also from other
sources, seem to have been known and practised among our forefathers,
and for the cure of almost all varieties of human maladies, whether of
the mind or body. Our old Scottish hagiologies, witch trials,
ecclesiastical records, etc., abound with notices of them. Nor have some
of the oldest and most marked medical superstitions of ancient times
been very long obliterated and forgotten. I know, for example, of two
localities in the Lowlands, one near Biggar in Lanarkshire, the other
near Torphichen in West Lothian, where, within the memory of the present
and past generation, living cows have been sacrificed for curative
purposes, or under the hope of arresting the progress of the murrain in
other members of the flock. In both these instances the cow was
sacrificed by being buried alive. The sacrifice of other living
animals,[223] as of the cat, cock, mole, etc., for the cure of disease,
and especially of fits, epilepsy, and insanity, continues to be
occasionally practised in some parts of the Highlands up to the present
day. And in the city of Edinburgh itself, every physician knows the fact
that, in the chamber of death, usually the face of the mirror is most
carefully covered over, and often a plate with salt in it is placed upon
the chest of the corpse.

The Museum of the Society contains a few medicinal charms and amulets,
principally in the form of amber beads (which were held potent in the
cure of blindness), perforated stones, and old distaff whorls, whose
original use seems to have been forgotten, and new and magical
properties assigned to them. But the most important medicinal relic in
the collection is the famous "Barbreck's bone," a slice or tablet of
ivory, about seven inches long, four broad, and half-an-inch in
thickness. It was long in the possession of the ancient family of
Barbreck in Argyleshire, and over the Western Highlands had the
reputation of curing all forms and degrees of insanity. It was formerly
reckoned so valuable that a bond of L100 was required to be deposited
for t