J. F. Campbell Collection > Celtic gleanings, or, Notices of the history and literature of the Scottish Gael

LECTURE III. 103
of a very curious kind, including among them,
pounded herbs of various kinds, egg-shells, and
similar substances, along with the scientific
pharmacopoeia of the period fully known and
applied according to the rules of art. One is
curious to know where some of the materials of
this pharmacopseia could be found. Were there
apothecaries in Skye and Mull ? Or were these
articles had from Dublin and Edinburgh ? Be
that as it may, it is manifest that, so far as medi-
cal science was concerned, these regions were
not behind their age during the period of the
Beatons. There being a sort of regal court in
the Hebrides may account for the existence of
this fact, at least to a certain extent.
Some of the Gaelic MSS. existing contain
curious metaphysical and mathematical specu-
lations. There is one curious little volume in
the Library of the Edinburgh Advocates, of
about two inches long, and an inch and a half
in breadth and thickness, bound together with
thongs, of considerable interest on this account.
It would appear to have been possessed by one
of the Beatons. On a page in the middle is
written : — " Is e so leabhar Neil oig" (" This is
Neil the younger's book") ; and we find the name
of Neil og in the genealogical tree of the Bea-
tons. The writer, however, has, as is common