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Beliefs and practices in health and disease from the Maclagan Manuscripts (1892–1903) Allan R Turner PhD – The University of Edinburgh – 2014 I, Allan Roderick Turner, Ph.D.student at Edinburgh University (s0235313) affirm that I have been solely responsible for the research in the thesis and its completion, as submitted today. Signed Date i Acknowledgements I am pleased to have the opportunity of expressing my gratitude to all the following individuals during the preparation and the completion of this thesis.My two earlier supervisors were Professor Donald.E.Meek and Dr. John. Shaw and from both teachers, I am pleased to acknowledge their skilled guidance and motivation to assist me during the initial stages of my work. My current supervisor, Dr.Neill Martin merits special recognition and thanks for continuing to support, encourage and direct my efforts during the demanding final phases. I also would like to thank several other members of staff, and previous graduates of the Department of Celtic and Scottish Studies for willingly answering general and specific enquiries in relation to my work. These are Dr.Wilson Macleod, Dr.Gary West, Dr.Will Lamb, Dr Domhnall.U.Stiùbhart and Dr. Andrew Wiseman. I am pleased to give my thanks also to Dr.Cathlin MacAulay, Archivist, Caroline Milligan, Research Assistant and Arnot Macdonald Librarian. Three people currently outwith the University who gave me assistance willingly were Dr.Greg Kinnear from the Royal Botanical Gardens, Dr. Ollie Douglas from the University of Reading and Mr. Ronnie Black; thank you. I would also like to thank Eileen Cox, Susan Reid, and Jane McMinn for their expert secretarial assistance. Last, but by no means least, I wish to record my grateful thanks to all members of my family who being aware of the continuing demands of this major research undertaking, continued to support, advise and encourage me- always; this will be a memory which I will always cherish. My wife, Jean, also deserves special thanks for her encouragement and characteristic sense of purpose which has driven and sustained me towards completion of this journey- which I hope others may follow. To all the family, I dedicate this work with much pleasure. ‘Mòran, mòran taing is mo bheannachd dhuibh uile’. ii Abstract The Maclagan Manuscripts (1892–1903) are derived from transcriptions of an extensive range of oral traditional narratives collected from a large number of named loci throughout the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, but principally from Argyllshire and the Inner Hebrides. They are named after Dr R. C. Maclagan (1839– 1919), an Edinburgh doctor, who began the collection at the instigation of the British Folklore Society and continued to supervise the collectors’ work till its completion. From the multifarious number of subjects included in the manuscripts, the chosen topic of the thesis was selected for detailed research and examination because of the recorded accounts of diseases, illnesses and treatments experienced by patients and their families within the framework of traditional healing beliefs and practices derived from a distinctive Celtic ethnographic culture. The main objectives within the selected methodology of the thesis were, firstly, to present a comprehensive description of the nature of holistic beliefs and practices associated with healing named diseases; secondly, to interpret the named diseases and the likelihood of success or failure of treatment in relation to the presumed underlying causation. Finally, it was considered important to set the experiential suffering of illness and diseases against the contextual background of daily life cycle of beliefs and communal daily living as found in the manuscripts. I am confident that the first two stated objectives of the thesis have been achieved within the limits of the oral narratives; the attempt to meet the requirements of the final phase of research, while complete within the defined set limits, has clearly shown that the manuscripts, in their entirety, represent an extensive original resource of oral traditions from the Highlands and Islands which have as yet not been researched in detail (Mac-an- Tuairnear 2007). Completion of this thesis was facilitated by the formation of a Microsoft Access database inclusive of all the manuscript key subjects- samples of which can be found in the Appendix. Mac-an-Tuairnear, A.R. (2007) Beul-aithris a Earraghaidheal is na h-Eileanan bho Lamh-sgrìobhainnean MhicLagan TGSI 55 97-125 iii Table of contents Signed Declaration ..................................................................................................... i Acknowledgements ..................................................................................................... ii Abstract ...................................................................................................................... iii Table of contents ....................................................................................................... iv List of illustrations ................................................................................................... vii General introduction,chapters summary and appendices .................................. viii Chapter 1 .................................................................................................................... 1 Beliefs and practices of folklore in the Highlands during the late Nineteenth Century ..................................................................................................................... 1 History and development of Highland medicine ................................................... 13 Dr R. C. Maclagan – Biography ............................................................................ 32 Chapter 2 .................................................................................................................. 42 History of manuscript collection and current status ............................................... 42 Collectors ............................................................................................................... 45 Contributors: informants and storytellers .............................................................. 50 Content andsubjects in manuscripts ....................................................................... 51 Chapter 3 .................................................................................................................. 61 Introduction: selection of pilot study ..................................................................... 61 Methodology and objectives of thesis .................................................................... 65 Disease and illness classification in Archives of School of Scottish Studies ........ 69 Disease and illness classification in the Maclagan Manuscripts ............................ 71 Treatment categories .............................................................................................. 72 Chapter 4 .................................................................................................................. 75 Introduction ............................................................................................................ 75 iv Nosology and folklore medicine ............................................................................ 84 Pain ......................................................................................................................... 86 Complaints and diseases arising in the head and neck ........................................... 94 Chest-based complaints ........................................................................................ 106 Internal complaints ............................................................................................... 116 Fever and infectious diseases ............................................................................... 124 Injuries and physical interventions....................................................................... 137 Skin conditions; Burns and scalds........................................................................ 144 Diseases of the brain ............................................................................................ 148 Miscellaneous medical conditions and their treatments ...................................... 152 Healers, doctors and their patients ....................................................................... 157 Animal illnesses ................................................................................................... 175 Food and health ...................................................................................................