[Footnote 219: _Natural History_, Book xxx. Sec. 4. Archaeologists are now
fully aware of "the accord" of the ancient inhabitants of Britain with
those of Persia and the other eastern branches of the Aryan race in many
other particulars, as in their language, burial customs, etc. According
to some Indian observers, stone erections, like our so-called Druidical
circles, cromlechs, etc., are common in the East. Is it vain to hope
that amid the great and yet unsearched remains of old Sanscrit
literature, allusions may yet be found to such structures, that may
throw more light upon their uses in connection with religious,
sepulchral, or other services?]
[Footnote 220: Grimm thinks that the formulae of Marcellus partake more
of the Celtic dialects of the Irish, and consequently of the Scotch,
than of the Welsh. As one of the shortest specimens of Marcellus's
charm-cures, let me cite, from Pictet, the following, as given in the
_Ulster Journal of Archaeology_, vol. iv. p. 266:--"Formula 12. He who
shall labour under the disease of watery (or blood-shot) eyes, let him
pluck the herb Millefolium up by the roots, and of it make a hoop, and
look through it, saying three times, '_Excicumacriosos_;' and let him as
often move the hoop to his mouth, and spit through the middle of it, and
then plant the herb again." "I divide," observes Pictet, "the formula
thus: _exci cuma criosos_, and translate it, 'See the form of the
girdle.'" After a long and learned disquisition on the component words
Pictet adds--"The process of cure recommended in this formula is of a
character altogether symbolical. Girdles (_cris_), which we shall meet
with again in formula No. 27, seem to have performed an important part
in Celtic medicine. By making the eye look through the circle formed by
the plant, a girdle, as it were, was put round it; and it is for this
reason that the formula says, see the form (or model) of the girdle. The
action of spitting afterwards through the little ring expressed
symbolically the expulsion of the pain." The so-called Celtic
word-charms in the formulae of Marcellus are usually longer than the
above; as, "_Tetune resonco bregan gresso_;" "Heilen prossaggeri nome
sipolla na builet ododieni iden olitan," etc. etc.]
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