Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 27, 1916.djvu/284

 256 Some Characteristics of Irish Folklore.

medicine were inextricably combined, that is not a pecu- liarity nor exclusively Irish, whereas the general botanical knowledge was considerable, and Lady Wilde counted it a national characteristic.^ It is only to be expected that numbers of herbs employed, of days whereon the potion be given, have weight in the potency of the cure, with con- comitant value attached to seasons of gathering, times of year or day when compounded and administered. Certain "harbs" here, as elsewhere, were credited with super-extra virtues above and beyond scientific limitations. Belief in charms and potions is for the finding in all parts of Ireland, and whatever strides the modern pharmacopoeia may be making, the "quack doctor," the cow doctor, the wizard, and the wise woman have yet their clientele. " Witches," as I have heard Ulster folk call both the latter, will make charms to protect the owner from many ills, especially from the evil eye — though certainly it is not only in the north that a person may " ill-look " you.

There is a measure of daring in the employment of magical remedies. Nor is there reason for surprise at the fear popularly connected with the administration of a love potion for instance — " a very awful act and full of danger," wrote Lady Wilde '' — when one finds ten leaves of hemlock dried and powdered went to the making.

The charm is not always complex, though many are. I once asked an Ulsterman if he knew any. " I come from the civilised parts," said he, but added as an afterthought, " They Catholics are very superstitious. There was a neighbour of me father's now who would always put the eggshells on top of the coop when the chickens were hatched. He would keep them there or the chickens would die."

In Folk-Lore, vol. xvi. p. 200, is an excellent account of the cow doctor, and of his charms compounded with "three mearne water," a silver coin and " erribs." One day when

® Wilde, Ancient Cures, p. 4. ' Ancient Cures, p. 72.