Another method of _Taghairm_, described by Martin, was by wrapping a person in a cow-hide, all but his head, and leaving him all night in a remote and lonely spot. Before morning his “invisible friends” gave him a proper answer to the question in hand, or, as Scott explains it, “whatever was impressed upon him by his exalted imagination, passed for the inspiration of the disembodied spirits who haunt the desolate recesses.” This method of divination cannot have been common; at least the writer has been able to find no trace of it. As a third mode of _Taghairm_, Martin briefly describes that above detailed, viz., the roasting of a live cat on a spit till at last a very large cat, attended by a number of lesser cats, comes and answers the question put to him. Both Martin and Scott fall into the error of supposing that the object of the _Taghairm_ was solely divination, to ascertain the future, the issue of battles, the fate of families, etc. The mode by roasting live cats was too fearful a ceremony to be resorted to except for adequate reasons, and the obtaining of worldly prosperity, which was the object of the Mull _Taghairm_, is a more likely reason than curiosity or anxiety as to a future event. The naming of the word _Taghairm_ is not at first sight obvious. There is no doubt about the last syllable being _gairm_, a call. _Ta_ is probably the same root that appears in so many words, as _tannasg_, _taibhse_, etc., denoting spectres, spirits, wraiths, etc., and _Taghairm_ means nothing else than the ‘spirit-call,’ in fact, “the calling of spirits from the vasty deep.” GLAS GHAIRM—POWER OF OPENING LOCKS.