On the farm of Crossapol in Coll there is a stone called Clach Thuill, i.e. the Hole Stone, through which persons suffering from consumption were made to pass three times in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. They took meat with them each time, and left some on the stone. The bird that took the food away had the consumption laid upon it. Similar stones, under which the patient can creep, were made use of in other islands.
LEPROSY (Mùr).
The waterfall at Scorrybreck, near Portree in Skye, called Easa suc Con, forms in the rock a natural trough or basin about the length and breadth of a man. A daughter of Lochlin, suffering from an incurable skin disease (mùr, leprosy?), in the course of her journeys in search of a cure (there being a prophecy that her cure was to be found in a northern island), came to this waterfall. The trough was emptied, and she was placed lying in it. She lay there till it again filled, and her cure was effected.
Loch Ma Nàr,
in Sutherlandshire, if entered on the first Monday of August, was believed to cure any and every disease or sickness.
WELLS.
Throughout the Highlands there are wells to which wonderful powers in the healing of disease were ascribed in olden times. They were generally, but not always, called after some saint, and their waters were drunk on certain days or at a particular hour of the day and with certain ceremonies and offerings. The importance of these wells and the pilgrimages to them disappeared with the Roman Catholic religion, and hardly a trace now remains of their former honours beyond the name.
“The well of the Fian flag-stone” (Tobar Leac nam Fiann) in Jura cured every disease. When the sick person went to it he had to leave in it a pin, a needle, a button, or other article, and if this was afterwards taken away there was no cure.
In a cave beyond Sanna in Ardnamurchan, and near the village of Plòcaig, there was about thirty years ago a hole, holding about a bowlful, made in the floor of the cave by water dripping from the roof. The waters of this receptacle were decreed of great efficacy in making those who drank it gay and strong. It was in request by young men of a lively disposition, women rising from childbed, etc. When entering, a copper coin, a metal button, or a nail, was placed somewhere near the door, and unless this was done it was not safe to enter. At the time mentioned the shelves of the cave were full of these offerings.
In North Uist, between Loch Maddy and Dïusa in Merivale, there is a well that cures the toothache. In the islet of St. Cormick, on the east of Cantyre, there was a well that cured the jaundice till an old wife from Breadalbane asked the saint in rude or uncivil terms to cure her distemper (vide Old Statistical Account).