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260 Gaelic Society of Inuerness.
life) from its salutary and beneticial ellects as a medicine ; and
from the Latin tongue being tlie general conveyancer of scientific discovery,
as well as of familiar correspondence, the term aq?ui vitoi
may have crept into common use to signify an indefinite distilled
spirit, in contradistinction to ncqxa vite, the mere extract of the
grape." (Muspratt.) Whisky is simply a corruption of the Gaelic
uisge or liisge-beatha. The virtues of Irish whisky, and directions
for making it, both sim}»le and compound, are fully recorded in the
Red Book of Ossory, compiled about 500 years ago. Uisge-beatha
was first used in Ireland as medicine, and was considered a panacea
for all disorders. The physicians recommended it to patients in-
discriminately, for preserving health, dissipating humours, strengthening
the heart, curing colic, dropsy, palsy, &,c., and even for prolonging
existence itself beyond the common limit. It appears to
have been used at one time to inspire heroism, as opium has been
used among the Turks. An Iiish knight, named Savage, about
1350, previously to engaging in battle ordered to each soldier a
large draught of aqua-vitie. Four hundred years later we find
Burns claiming a similar virtue for Highland whisky :
" But bring a Scotsman frae his hill,
Clap in his cheek a Highland gill,
Say, such is royal George's will.
An there's the foe,
He has nae thought but how to kill
Twa at a blow."
And again in that "tale of truth," "Tarn o' Shanter "
" Wi' tippenny we fear nae evil
Wi' usquebae we'll face the devil."
A similar idea is expressed in Strath-mathaisidh's Gaelic
Song, " Comunn an Uisge-bheatha :"
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" Bidh iad Ian misnich 'us cruadail,
Gu h-aigiontach brisg gu tuasaid,
Chuireadh aon fhichead 'san uair sin
Teailach Ruadh fo'n chriin duinn."
By this time you are wondering what has Ijcconie of the
smugglers and Highland whisky. Although I did not expect to
find that Adam, who, of cour.se, spoke Gaelic and was no doul)t a
thorough Highlander, had engaged in smuggling outside the walls
of Eden, or that the plucky Maclean, who sailed a boat of his own
at the Flood, had an anchor of good old Highland whisky on
;
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