The book Arran; - Cook Clan

FOLK LORE 307
found the patient sprinkled himself, and in some cases took three
sips of it. It was an essential part of the cure that the stone should
be found and the cure performed at a place from which the sea was
invisible from any part of the compass.
PIuMAN hair cut off the head should be burnt, lest the birds should
get it for their nests, thereby causing headaches to the person whose
hair it was.
Water, salt, and soot were given for sick headaches. Three sips
were taken, and a cross made upon the forehead and also on the back
of the head with the middle finger, which had been dipped in the
compound.
Cure for Rheumatism
It was quite customary in Arran for people prone to rheumatism
to carry a small potato in their pockets as a safeguard against and
cure for that painful trouble. I have known a Shisken man do this
within the last three years.
[This may be said to be still a living superstition. Strictly the potato
should be a stolen one. The association of certain roots with cures is ancient
and universal. The illness is supposed to be the work of evil spirits. The
Bengoes of Africa believe, as the Greeks of Homer did, that 'certain roots
ward off the evil influence of spirits.']
FOLK MEDICINE (OR CUE.ES)
Spider-webs were used to stop haemorrhage. Ash or rowan bark
was used as a poultice in adder bites. The oil made from the liver
of the porpoise was rubbed on sprained joints.
In ' sty ' of the eyelid a rub of the cat's tail was supposed to be
efficacious, and the first spittle in the morning was a cure for sore
eyes.
There was a [cure]—but I forget what it was for— possibly thirst
—and that was to catch a snail and impale it on a thorn in the hedge.
I am subject to correction here. Another cure for thirst was to lift
a stone, spit below it, and carefully replace the stone.
Salt water was looked upon as a very good cure for many ailments.
A friend of mine had a sore knee, and he was advised to get some