[30] Mitchell, _op. cit._, p. 18. He adds it was Murdoch's "calamity to live among an unenlightened people, a thousand years removed from the kindly doctrines of the good Pinel." "I am not here detailing what happened in the Middle Ages. It is of the nineteenth century--of what living men saw that I write." In the _Inverness Courier_, August 31, 1871, is an extraordinary account of dipping lunatics in Lochmanur, in Sutherlandshire, in the district of Strathnaver, at midnight: "About fifty persons were present near one spot.... About twelve (affected with various diseases) stripped and walked into the loch, performing their ablutions three times. Those who were not able to act for themselves were assisted, some of them being led willingly, and others by force. One young woman, strictly guarded, was an object of great pity. She raved in a distressing manner, repeating religious phrases, some of which were very earnest and pathetic.... These utterances were enough to move any person hearing them. Poor girl! What possible good could immersion be to her?... No man, so far as I could see, denuded himself for a plunge.... These gatherings take place twice a year, and are known far and near to such as put belief in the spell. But the climax of absurdity is in paying the loch in sterling coin.... I may add that the practice of dipping in the loch is said to have been carried on from time immemorial, and it is alleged that many cures have been effected by it" (Correspondent of the _Courier_, who witnessed the scene on the 14th of August, 1871). [31] "Darker Superstitions of Scotland," p. 190. [32] _Op. cit._, p. 60; from "Trial of Alexander Drummond in the Kirktown of Auchterairdour," July 3, 1629. [33] _Op. cit._, p. 61, "Trial of Marable Couper," June 13, 1616. [34] _Op. cit._, p. 98. [35] Dalyell, p. 550. [36] Joyce's "Irish Names of Places," vol. i. p. 172. [37] "Ancient and Present State of the County Kerry," p. 196. [38] Joyce's "Irish Names of Places." [39] "Letters from the Kingdom of Kerry, in the year 1845." Dublin, 1847. [40] Vol. ii. p. 226. On witchcraft in Ireland see the "Annals of Ireland," translated from the original Irish of the Four Masters, by Owen Connellan, Esq. Dublin, 1846. [41] His "Breviary of Helth" was published in 1547. [42] This cross was made of sea sand, in the sixth century, by St. Kentigern, called also St. Mungo. A collegiate church was erected there in 1449. He healed the maniacal by the touch. See "The Legends of St. Kentigern," translated by Rev. William Stevenson, D.D., Edinburgh, 1874; and _Notes and Queries_, April 21, 1866.