Chapter VI (1)

Three years afterward, by the merest accident in the world, I happened to return to my favorite little village. There was evidently some excitement going on, and as I chanced to recognize my old friend Father Hermann, I went up and renewed our acquaintance.

"What is the matter?" said he; "why you do not mean to say you don't know?"

"Not in the least."

"Why your old friend Alphonsine has been dead six months."

"I really don't see why the worthy inhabitants of the village should rejoice at that," said I.

"A great obstacle has been removed," said the father; "don't you remember?"

"Of course; and what has followed?"

"The marriage of Pierre Prévost and Marie!"

I was not long in accompanying Father Hermann to the cottage in which my old friends were receiving the warm congratulations of their friends and neighbors.

They recognized me at once, and insisted that I should be present at the entertainment which was to follow in the course of the day. Of course I accepted the invitation. I never remember having enjoyed myself so much, and am quite certain that I spoke from my heart when I proposed, in my very best French, the healths of la belle Marie and Pierre Prévost.

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{119}

From The Popular Science Review.

INSIDE THE EYE: THE OPHTHALMOSCOPE AND ITS' USES.

BY ERNEST HART, OPHTHALMIC SURGEON.

There are few spectacles more affecting--and there were few more hopelessly distressing--than that which many have seen, of the blind man, with eyes unaltered in their human aspect of beauty, searching vainly to penetrate the unchangeable darkness of a noonday, bright to others, and replete with the splendor of light and color. There have always been many of these sufferers from a disease which claims the most profound sympathy, and which seemed bitterly to reproach our science that it could not timely penetrate the mystery of that obscure chamber which lies behind the iris, and had found no means for enabling us to see through the clear but darkened space of the pupil. That reproach, at least, exists in part no longer. Since some few years now we have learnt how to explain the obscurity of the interior of the eye, and by what optical contrivances we can overcome this darkness and look into the depths of the ocular globe; thus inspecting with ease, and quite painlessly to the individual, the lenses and humors of the eye, the nerve of sight and its transparent retinal expansion, and even the vascular tissue which lies behind and surrounds this. This is a great triumph of physical science, and it is no barren triumph. The insight which we gain into the host of affections of the refracting media and deep membranes of the eye has given to our diagnosis and therapeutical treatment of the most obscure forms of disease leading to blindness, a certainty and precision to which we were formerly strangers.

The optical instrument by which we are able to effect this inspection is known by the fitting title of the _Ophthalmoscope_ ([Greek text] the eye; [Greek text], I survey). With this instrument, the manner of using it, and its valuable applications, I am necessarily professionally much occupied in daily work; and as the editor of the "Popular Science Review" has requested me to give some plain account of the matter, I will endeavor to afford an untechnical statement of what the ophthalmoscope is, and what are some of the most useful results which have been obtained by its use.

Let me first remind the general reader that in the human eye, behind the pupillary aperture of the colored iris, which presents to the unaided eye of the observer the mere aspect of black darkness, lies, first, a clear bi-convex _lens_; and behind this, filling the eye, and giving to it the character of a solid ball, a transparent globular mass, known as the _vitreous body_, or _humor_. It is into a depression in the front of this that the aforesaid lens is fitted, so that the whole space of the eye behind the _iris_ is filled by the _lens_ and _vitreous body_. The optic nerve, or nerve of sight, which pierces the tunics of the eye at the back and near the centre, spreads out and forms an expanded tunic of nerve-structure which enwraps the vitreous body as far as its most forward edge, where the colored iris descends in front of it. Enwrapping again this nerve-tunic or _retina_ is a vestment, chiefly made of blood-vessels, connected by fine tissue and thickly coated with black pigment, having its own optical uses. This second outer pigmented vascular tunic is _the choroid_. This again is enclosed within the external strong fibrous membrane, which includes and protects all the sclerotic membrane {120} ([Greek text], hard). These are the two humors and three tunics of the eye which can to a greater or less extent be examined during life by the aid of the ophthalmoscope.

They can all be more or less investigated in the living eye by the aid of the ophthalmoscope, because by the aid of this instrument we are able to see through the pupillary space. If one considers what is the reason of the apparent darkness of the pupillary aperture and the chambers of the eye behind it, it is not difficult to gain an idea of the means by which this optical condition may be altered so as to enable us to see where all seem to the unaided vision obscure.

{121}

This darkness of the pupillary aperture is attributable partly to obvious causes, such as the natural contraction of the pupil or _iris_ which occurs under light--this contraction limiting the number of rays which can enter the eye. Then that black pigment which lines the iris absorbs a great deal of light; and thus, as in the case of albinos, whose eyes are deficient in pigment, or where the pupil is dilated, either through disease or by artificial agents, these obstacles for seeing into the living eye are removed. But still the main difficulties are not cleared away; and if you take for example an albino animal, such as one of those beautiful little white-furred rabbits, whose rosy eyes look like fiery opals edged with swan's down, and dilate the pupils with atropine, it is still not possible to see clearly the details of the structure within and at the back of the eye. This is by reason of the structure of the eye as an optical instrument, and because the rays of light in entering and in emerging from it undergo refraction, according to definite laws. The light which penetrates the eye traverses the transparent retina, producing the impression necessary for sight, and is partly absorbed by the black pigment of the choroid; but a great number of the rays are reflected; for here there is no exception to the general rule that some of the rays of light falling upon any substance are always reflected. These rays, in returning, are refracted through the vitreous body and lens, just as they were in entering the eye, with the object then of causing them so to converge as to produce upon the retina a clear and definite image of whatever external object they started from. Similarly, then, on their emergence they are refracted chiefly by the lens and cornea, so as to form an image in the outer air, the emergent rays coinciding in their path with that which they took when entering, and the image formed in the air being conjugated with the retinal image; being formed, therefore, on the same side, varying with the position of the lens and object, and the accommodation of the eye. Thus, then, to perceive this aerial image, derived from the retinal reflection, the eye of the observer needs to be placed in the axis of the converging rays; but since this is also the axis of the entering rays, he will of necessity in that position cut off those rays altogether of the light proceeding, say, from a lamp, or the source of light opposite to the eye to be illuminated.

The problem to be solved consists, then, in the simple illumination of the eye to be observed by a source of light so arranged that the observer can be placed in the axis of the rays entering and emerging without intercepting those rays. This may be most conveniently effected by placing the source of light aside of the eye to be observed, and observing through a pierced concave mirror, which reflects that light into the eye. We can then, by looking through the central aperture of this mirror, place ourself in the path of the entering and emerging rays. The mirror becomes the source of light to the observed eye; the rays which it flashed into the eye emerge {122} in part, and return along the same path, forming the aerial image at a distance and under circumstances regulated by the optical conditions of the eye observed, and within view of the observer who is looking through the mirror. A very simple diagram will suffice to explain this: _r a_ is the circle of diffusion of the retina, and the lines indicate how the reflected rays will pass through the media of the eye, and form at _r' a'_ real enlarged but inverted image of the fundus of the eye. This will be placed at the distance of distinct vision of the subject, and has relation to the accommodation of the eye.

As these are variable quantities, the practice of ophthalmoscopy demands a little address, which habit quickly gives. It is for want of understanding this, and from impatience of these preliminary difficulties, that many have been discouraged at the outset, and have abandoned unwisely the attempt to learn the use of the ophthalmoscope.

The image obtained in the way mentioned is not so distinct as to give that full perception of details which is necessary for scientific and medical purposes. A more defined image is obtained by interposing, for example, a bi-convex lens on the path of the luminous rays emerging from the eye observed. The effect of holding such a lens of short focus before the observed eye whilst examining it with a concave ophthalmoscopic mirror is to cause the rays emerging from the eye to undergo a further refraction, and to modify the actual image which they form, producing one which is smaller, more defined, but still inverted. This is the most simple and one of the most satisfactory methods of exploring the eye with the ophthalmoscope. It is that of the most general and easy application, and I will, therefore, add a few words to explain how it may most conveniently be practised.

We will suppose that it is the human eye which is to be examined. The room is to be made dark; the person to be seated; a light--the white flame of an oil-lamp or an Argand gas-burner--to be placed near his head, on the side, and at the level of the eye to be observed. The observer takes then the concave mirror in the hand of the side toward the lamp, and placing it against the front of his eye, so that the upper edge rests against his eyebrow, brings his head to the level of that of the person seated, looks through the central perforation at the eye to be observed, and by a little careful change in the direction of the mirror casts, by its aid, upon the eye examined the light of the lamp.

He will now perceive that the pupillary aperture is illuminated, and, no longer black, shines with a silvery or reddened light. He takes now the bi-convex lens of short focus in the hand hitherto free, and places it in front of the examined eye, and at such a distance as to make the focus of the lens coincide with the pupil of that eye --distance varying from two to three inches. He himself will usually need to be at a distance from twelve to eighteen inches. This is for normal eyes. The slight movements backward and forward necessary to adjust these distances correctly, are effected very easily and precisely after practice; but at first it is a little difficult to avoid changing the direction of the mirror while thus slightly advancing or retiring the head; and this is a point on which it is well to give a warning, for it is a frequent source of discouragement to beginners, who find that at every movement they interfere with the illumination of the eye, and so suffer from a series of little failures at the outset. The first thing, in fact, that every one sees amounts to a little more than a red, luminous disc; those who begin by seeing nothing more, therefore, need not to be discouraged; a little patience and time will enable them to see what more practised persons describe. The eye to be examined may be more fully observed by dilating the pupil {123} with atropine--a drop of a solution, one grain to a pint of water, or one of the atropized gelatines prepared for me by Savory and Moore, each of which contains one hundred thousandth of a grain of atropine, and will maintain dilation during several hours. This acts also perfectly well with rabbits or cats.

The first thing seen is the red reflection of the choroidal vessels showing through the transparent retina; and when the eye observed is directed upward and inward, we see the usually circular disc of the optic nerve, encircled by a double ring, cream-colored, or very faintly roseate or grey, and surrounded by the red choroid. The two rings are the apertures in the choroid and sclerotic, of which the former is the smaller. From out this disc we see springing the retinal artery and retinal veins, sometimes centric, at others excentric, in their passage. The artery is easily recognized as being somewhat smaller in calibre, and of a lighter red. The artery usually divides into a superior and inferior branch, each of which subdivides forthwith into two secondary branches, and these again continue to subdivide, dichotomously, running forward to the anterior limits of the retina. The veins, which are somewhat larger and deeper colored, usually pierce the disc of the optic nerve in two trunks. Pulsation may occasionally be detected in the veins by watching carefully their color, which seems to change at each impulse just where they pass over the edge of the optic disc and bend to pierce the nerve.

Fuller details of the ophthalmoscopic appearances of healthy eyes, both human and animal, will be found in Zander's treatise, excellently edited and translated by Mr. R. B. Carter, of Stroud. In the healthy eye the aqueous humor, lens, and vitreous humor are clear, and do not in any way obstruct the passage of the light. It is otherwise in disease; and this brings us to the discussion of some of the practical applications of the ophthalmoscope. Here, perhaps, I may be permitted to quote some of the {124} paragraphs of a paper which I read lately on the subject before the Hanveian Society:

"Taking up the diagnosis of the various forms of disease any of
which would have been held to constitute the condition known as
amaurosis, it may be noted, first of all, that even in the hands of
the novice ophthalmoscopic examination supersedes those chapters in
ophthalmology which were formerly devoted to the means of
distinguishing between incipient cataract and amaurosis. In the
past, and even at present, with those surgeons who are content to
treat deep-seated diseases of the eye by guessing at their nature,
and have not adopted the systematic use of the ophthalmoscope into
their practice, the functional annoyances which commonly occur at
the outset of the formation of lenticular cataract, have been, and
are, fertile sources of deception. The patient complains of frontal
pain, of confused vision, stars of light, and some other vague
symptoms which characterize the outset alike of many forms of
deep-seated disease of the eye, and of the fatty degeneration of the
lens which commonly gives rise to lenticular cataract, probably from
coincident swelling of the lens. An error arising from this source
has many times condemned the unfortunate subject of a commencing
cataract to the severe treatment thought appropriate to the unhappy
class of amaurotics. The kind of alteration in the lens,
imperceptible by any other means than the ophthalmoscope, is the
slightly opaque striation of the substance of the lens sometimes
seen in an early stage. These opaque striae may occupy either the
anterior or the posterior segment of the lens, and spring from the
centre of the crystalline or converge toward the centre from the
circumference. In order to see the latter, the pupil must be fully
dilated with atropine; as, indeed, for the purposes of complete
ophthalmoscopic examination it always needs to be; and then, just as
the greatest expert cannot discover them except by ophthalmoscopic
illumination, so, neither with its aid, can they be passed over with
ordinary care. In order to be quite sure in any delicate case, it is
well to lower the light a little, and use only a feebly illuminating
power, as a very strong light may overpower a {125} commencing
opacity, and render us unable to detect the striae. This practical
caution applies equally to all other conditions of opacity in the
transparent media. In two cases, lately, I have been able to set at
rest doubts of this kind, which happened to be in the persons of
medical men, who were much disquieted by the symptoms--one a member
of this society. In a third case I have recently detected incipient
cataract (peripheric striae) in a gentleman supposed to be suffering
from commencing glaucoma.

"It is of frequent occurrence to find the capsule of the lens
stained with black spots; these are stains left by the uveal
pigment, and occur usually after an attack of iritis, when the iris
has been in contact with the lens. When the iris has been adherent,
a complete ring of pigment may often be seen on the surface of the
lens. A day's experience at any ophthalmic clinique can mostly show
examples of this condition; but it is only when these deposits are
numerous, and in the central line of vision, that they become
troublesome. They are then met with as the sequences of severe
choroido-iritis, and usually coincide with further mischief in the
vitreous and choroid.

"The vitreous, under the influence most commonly of choroiditis, and
usually syphilitic choroiditis, presents alterations of the most
striking character for ophthalmoscopic observation. The patients who
offer these changes complain usually of considerable dimness of
sight, which on examination is found to include both diminution in
the acuteness of visual perception, and restriction in _the field of
vision_, or extent of any object seen at once. The great source of
trouble to them is, that when they lift the eye or move the head,
black corpuscles, or streaks, or webs float before their eyes, and
obscure the object at which they are looking; and when the eyes are
kept still, these fall again and disappear. Examine now the eyes of
such an one, and you will see that the phenomena described are due
to the existence of actual shreds, corpuscles, or webs of fibrous
and albuminous exudation, which float in the vitreous, and at each
motion of the eye rise in clouds and obscure the fundus, so that you
can barely see it, or perhaps not at all. These conditions, I say,
are mostly specific, but not invariably. They are sometimes the
result of scrofula, and probably of other forms of choroiditis."

Here, then, are a large number of cases in which the ophthalmoscope transports us at once from the regions of the known to the unknown. There are other classes of cases equally striking. Let me take illustrative examples. Two persons apply for advice, complaining that the sight has been gradually growing more and more dim, perhaps in one eye,--it may be in both. The progress of the disease has been insidious and nearly painless. The eyes are to all external appearance healthy, except probably that in both patients the pupils are partially dilated and sluggish. The ophthalmoscope helps us to solve the problem.

The one is a case, it may be, of slow atrophy of the optic nerve, proceeding from central disease of the brain--from pressure on the optic tracts of nerve within the skull, or from defective nutrition following losses of blood. We find the nerve glistening white and slightly cupped, the arteries small, the fundus otherwise healthy. In the other we recognize at once, in the fulness of the veins, their pulsation, and the marked excavation of the optic disc, the indications of excessive tension of the eyeball and undue pressure of the nerve. The first requires careful constitutional treatment and a long course of studied hygiene and medication; the second calls for direct and immediate interference, with the view of relieving the intra-ocular pressure. In the diagnosis of this great class of glaucomatous disease of the eye--disease {126} characterized of loss of vision, sometimes slow and sometimes rapid, but always characterized by definite ophthalmoscopic signs: cupping of the disc, pulsation, fullness of the veins, and it may be more or less haziness of the transparent media--ophthalmoscopy has rendered a most brilliant and inestimable service. Prior to the introduction of the use of this instrument the disease was of an unknown pathology; its results were fatal to vision, but there were no means of diagnosing the conditions attending the earlier stages, and blindness followed almost certainly and inevitably. The investigation of the disease has brought us a remedy in the excision of a portion of the iris--a practice introduced by Von Gräfe, of Berlin, and of which the success is in suitable cases most gratifying.

Another series of examples may be chosen to illustrate the application of ophthalmoscopy. I avoid giving details here, but it is perhaps right to say that these are not fanciful sketches, but notices of cases in my experience and taken from my note-books of practice. Two persons are asking for advice as to the management of their eyes for short-sightedness. Are both to receive the same advice? The ophthalmoscope alone can furnish positive data. With this we may discover a staphylomatous condition of the back of the eye, a bright excentric margin around the optic disc and edge with black pigment. Examining it closely, we may find that this pigmented edge gives evidence of progressive inflammation at the back of the eye, and extending to continuous and increasing atrophy and retrocession of the coats of the eye. This person is in danger of becoming rapidly made short-sighted or of losing sight altogether. We must prohibit the use of concave glasses for a certain length of time, and must adopt active and effectual measures for subduing the atrophic inflammation. In the other patient the ophthalmoscope may show us but little stretching or waste, and that not progressive, and will enable us then to calm his fears, to prescribe appropriate glasses, and to dismiss him to his occupation with ease of mind and safety. So with sudden lose of sight from intra-ocular haemorrhage, the ophthalmoscope gives us information which could never have been guessed at without it, and guides us, not only to the local knowledge, but to the constitutional information essential for cure.

There are certain conditions of the eye which may warn any one that it is desirable that the condition of the vision ought to be investigated by the ophthalmoscope. Rapidly increasing short-sightedness is one of the most marked, and when this becomes associated with weakness of sight and loss of acuteness in the perception of small objects, the warning is very urgent. A diminution in the field of vision is another important indication of internal changes in the eye, of which only the ophthalmoscope can detect the true nature. It would be difficult, perhaps, to say whether more mischief is done and more suffering is caused by the total neglect of such symptoms or by their ignorant palliation by the aid of common spectacles, chosen empirically, because they facilitate vision for the time. The great use of the ophthalmoscope, then, is this: that it arms us with an instrument of precision, by which we can determine the precise local condition of the parts of the eye in which the function of sight is resident and through which it is regulated. If it cannot do all that we might ask, it is because the sense of sight is in truth a cerebral function, of which the eye is only an instrument; and in dealing with cerebral affections of the sight, it can indeed give us information which without it we should lack, but it leaves still to be desired more intimate acquaintance with first causes, which at present we can only discuss inferentially. To the amateur in science, and to the lover of nature, it discloses an exquisite spectacle, unknown till now, that carries {127} observation into the inner chambers of the living eye, and displays its wonders and its beauties. The observation is perfectly painless, and may easily be effected: rabbits, for example, submit to it with great calmness and composure, and at the College of Physicians' _soirée_ last year, a little pet white rabbit of mine sat up calmly in a box which I had made for the purpose, and was examined, by the aid of a modification which I devised of Liebreich's demonstrating ophthalmoscope, by many score of observers. Mine has the advantage of being adapted for use even amid a blaze of light, and it cannot easily be disarranged; two qualities valuable in an instrument for demonstration.

----------

From The Lamp.

THE PILGRIMAGE TO KEVLAAR.

FROM THE GERMAN.

The mother stood at the window.
The son he lay in bed;
"Here's a procession, Wilhelm;
Wilt not look out?" she said.

"I am so ill, my mother,
In the world I have no part;
I think upon dead Gretchen,
And a death-pang rends my heart."

"Rise up; we will to Kevlaar;
Will staff and rosary take;
God's Mother there will cure thee,--
Thy sick heart whole will make."

The Church's banner fluttered,
The Church's hymns arose;
And unto fair Cöln city
The long procession goes.

The mother joined the pilgrims,
Her sick son leadeth she;
And both sing in the chorus,
"_Gelobt seyst du, Marie!_" [Footnote 22]

[Footnote 22: "Praised be thou, Mary!"]

II.

The holy Mother in Kevlaar
To-day is well arrayed,--
To-day hath much to busy her.
For many sick ask her aid.

{128}

And many sick people bring her
Such offerings as are meet;
Many waxen limbs they bring her,
Many waxen hands and feet.

And who a wax hand bringeth,
His hand is healed that day;
And who a wax foot bringeth,
With sound feet goes away.

Many went there on crutches
Who now on the rope can spring;
Many play now on the viol
Whose hands could not touch a string.

The mother she took a waxen light.
And shaped therefrom a heart;
"Take that to the Mother of Christ," she said,
"And she will heal thy smart."

He sighed, and took the waxen heart,
And went to the church in woe;
The tears from his eyes fell streaming,
The words from his heart came low.

"Thou that art highly blessed,
Thou Mother of Christ!" said he;
"Thou that art queen of heaven,
I bring my griefs to thee.

I dwell in Cöln with my mother;
In Cöln upon the Rhine,
Where so many hundred chapels
And so many churches shine.

And near unto us dwelt Gretchen;
But dead is Gretchen now.
Marie, I bring a waxen heart,--
My heart's despair heal thou.

Heal thou my sore heart-sickness;
So I will sing to thee
Early and late with fervent love,
"_Gelobt seyst du, Marie!_"

{129}

III.

The sick son and the mother
In one chamber slept that night;
And the holy Mother of Jesus
Gild in with footsteps light

She bowed her over the sick man's bed,
And one there hand did lay
Upon his throbbing bosom,
Then smiled and passed away.

It seemed a dream to the mother,
And she had yet seen more
But that her sleep was broken,
For the dogs howled at the door.

Upon his bed extended
Her son lay, and was dead;
And o'er his thin pale visage streamed
The morning's lovely red.

Her hands the mother folded.
Yet not a tear wept she;
But sang in low devotion,
"_Gelobt seyst du, Marie!_"

MARY HOWITT.

------

From The Reader.

THE ANCIENT LAWS OF IRELAND.

_Ancient Laws of Ireland_. Vol. I. Printed for Her Majesty's Stationery Office. (London: Longman. Dublin: Thorn.)

This is a curious book, throwing some glimmerings of light upon a very remote and obscure period of Irish history. In 1852 a government commission, called the "Brehon Law Commission," was issued to the Lord Chancellor of Ireland, Lord Rosse, Dean Graves, Dr. Petrie, and others, appointing them to carry into effect the selection, transcription, and translation of certain documents in the Gaelic tongue containing portions of the ancient laws of Ireland, and the preparation of the same for publication. In pursuance of this, the commissioners employed Dr. O'Donovan and Professor O'Curry, two Gaelic scholars of high distinction, to transcribe and translate various law tracts in the Irish language in the library of Trinity College, Dublin, of the Royal Irish Academy, of the British Museum, and in the Bodleian Library at Oxford. The transcriptions occupy more than 5,000 manuscript pages, including all the law tracts which it was thought necessary to publish, and have nearly all been translated; but the two chosen scholars did not live to complete and revise their translations. The portion now published was prepared for the press by W. Neilson, Hancock, LL.D., first in conjunction with Dr. O'Donovan, and, after his death, with the Rev. Mr. O'Mahony, professor of Irish in the university of Dublin. It is a volume of some 300 pages, the Irish on one page and the translation opposite, containing the first part of the _Senchus Mor_ (we are not told how much is to follow), treating of the law of distress or distraint, with an Irish introduction, and various Irish glosses and commentaries on the text.

The title _Senchus Mor_ (pronounced "Shanchus Môr") for which seven or {130} eight different derivations are suggested, appears to mean "the great old laws," or "the great old decisions." The chief manuscripts of it which are known to exist are three in Trinity College, Dublin, and one in the Harleian collection in the British Museum, and the earliest of these is assigned to _circa_ A.D. 1300. But quotations from the _Senchus Mor_ are found in "Cormac's Glossary," the greater part of which was probably composed in the ninth or tenth century, and the date of the original compilation is put by good judges, on various evidence, at A.D. 438 to 441. It is, in short, a codification and revision, under the direction of St. Patrick, of the judgments of the pagan Brehons. Three kings, three poets, and three Christian missionaries (of whom Patrick was one) were combined in this work, and the code then established remained the national law of Ireland for nearly twelve centuries. The pagan laws embodied in this revised code were in force during a period of unknown antiquity, prior to the introduction of Christianity to the island.

"The _Senchus Mor_ has been selected by the commissioners for early
publication as being one of the oldest and one of the most important
portions of the ancient laws of Ireland which have been preserved. It
exhibits the remarkable modification which these laws of pagan
origin underwent, in the fifth century, on the conversion of the
Irish to Christianity.

"This modification was ascribed so entirely to the influence of St.
Patrick that the _Senchus Mor_ is described as having been called in
after times 'Cain Patraic,' or Patrick's law.

"The _Senchus Mor_ was so much revered, that the Irish judges,
called Brehons, were not authorized to abrogate anything contained
in it.

"The original text, of high antiquity, has been made the subject of
glosses and commentaries of more recent date; and the _Senchus Mor_
would appear to have maintained its authority among the native Irish
until the beginning of the seventeenth century, or for a period of
1,200 years.

"The English law, introduced by King Henry the Second in the twelfth
century, for many years scarcely prevailed beyond the narrow limits of
the English pale (comprising the present counties of Louth, Meath,
Westmeath, Kildare, Dublin, and Wicklow). Throughout the rest of
Ireland the Brehons still administered their ancient laws amongst
the native Irish, who were practically excluded from the privileges
of the English law. The Anglo-Irish, too, adopted the Irish laws to
such an extent that efforts were made to prevent their doing so by
enactments first passed at the parliament of Kilkenny in the
fortieth year of King Edward III. (1367), and subsequently renewed
by Stat. Henry VII., c. 8, in 1495. So late as the twenty-fourth and
twenty-fifth years of the reign of King Henry VIII. (1534) George
Cromer, archbishop of Armagh and primate of Ireland, obtained a
formal pardon for having used the Brehon laws. In the reign of Queen
Mary, 1554, the Earl of Kildare obtained an eric of 340 cows for the
death of his foster-brother, Robert Nugent, under the Brehon law.

"The authority of the Brehon laws continued until the power of the
Irish chieftains was finally broken in the reign of Queen Elizabeth,
and all the Irish were received into the king's immediate protection
by the proclamation of James I. This proclamation, followed as it
was by the complete division of Ireland into counties, and the
administration of the English laws throughout the entire country,
terminated at once the necessity for, and the authority of, the
ancient Irish laws.

"The wars of Cromwell, the policy pursued by King Charles II. at the
restoration, and the results of the revolution of 1688, prevented any
revival of the Irish laws; and before the end of the seventeenth
century the whole race of judges (Brehons) and professors (Ollamhs)
of the Irish laws appears to have become extinct."

{131}

Portions of the text of the _Senchus Mor_, as we now have it, are held by Gaelic scholars to be in the language of the fifth century, in what was called the _Bérla Feini_ dialect; other portions translated from that ancient form into Gaelic of the thirteenth century. Various ancient Irish glosses and commentaries accompany the text, and also an introduction of high antiquity, giving an account of the origin of the _Senchus Mor_.

"Patrick came to Erin to baptize and to disseminate religion among
the Gaeidhil--_i.e._, in the ninth year of, the reign of Theodosius,
and in the fourth year of the reign of Laeghairè [pronounced Layorie
or Layrie], son of Niall; king of Erin." The combination of the
Roman pagan laws with Christian doctrine in the Theodosian code
received imperial sanction in A.D. 438, and was at once adopted both
in the eastern and western empires. St. Patrick, Dr. Hancock
remarks, a Roman citizen, a native of a Roman province, and an
eminent Christian missionary, would be certain to obtain early
intelligence of the great reform of the laws of the empire and of
the great triumph of the Christian church. Having now been six years
in Erin, and established his influence there, he attempted
successfully a similar reform in that remote island, and the
composition of the _Senchus Mor_ was accordingly commenced in that
same year, 438, and completed in about four years.

"In ancient Irish books the name of the place where they were
composed is usually mentioned. The introduction to the _Senchus Mor_
contains this information, but is very peculiar in representing the
book as having been composed at different places in different
seasons of the year: 'It was Teamhair in the summer and in the
autumn, on account of its cleanness and pleasantness during these
seasons; and Rath-guthaird was the place during the winter and the
spring, on account of the nearness of its fire-wood and water, and
on account of its warmth in the time of winter's cold.'

"Teamhair, now Tara, was, at the time the _Senchus Mor_ was
composed, the residence of King Laeghairè, the monarch of Erin, and
of his chief poet Dubhthach Mac ua Lugair, who took such a leading
part in the work.

"Teamhair ceased to be the residence of the kings of Ireland after
the death of King Dermot, in A.D. 565, about a century and a quarter
after the _Senchus Mor_ was composed. Remains are, after the lapse
of nearly 1,400 years, to be still found, the most remarkable of
their kind in Ireland, which attest the ancient importance of the
place."

In the introduction a curious account is given of St. Patrick's manner of dealing with the existing "professors of the sciences," and his admission of the claim of inspiration on behalf of his pagan predecessors.

"Patrick requested of the men of Erin to come to one place to hold a
conference with him. When they came to the conference the gospel of
Christ was preached to them all; and when the men of Erin heard of
the killing of the living and the resuscitation of the dead, and all
the power of Patrick since his arrival in Erin, and when they saw
Laeghairè with his Druids overcome by the great signs and miracles
_wrought_ in the presence of the men in Erin, they bowed down, in
obedience to the will of God and Patrick.

"Then Laeghairè said: 'It is necessary for you, O men of Erin, that
every other law should be settled and arranged by us, as well as
this.' 'It is better to do so,' said Patrick. It was then that all
the professors of the sciences in Erin were assembled and each of
them exhibited his art before Patrick, in the presence of every
chief in Erin.

"It was then that Dubhthach was ordered to exhibit the judgments and
all the poetry of Erin, and every law which prevailed among the men of
Erin, through the law of nature, and {132} the law of the seers, and
in the judgments of the island of Erin, and in the poets.

"They had foretold that the bright word of blessing would
come--_i.e._, the law of the letter; for it was the Holy Spirit that
spoke and prophesied through the mouths of the just men who were
formerly in the island of Erin, as he had prophesied through the
mouths of the chief prophets and noble fathers in the patriarchal
law; for the law of nature had prevailed where the written law did
not reach.

"Now the judgments of true nature which the Holy Ghost had spoken
through the mouths of the Brehons and just poets of the men of Erin,
from the first occupation of this island down to _the reception_ of
the faith, were all exhibited by Dubhthach to Patrick. What did not
clash with the Word of God in the written law and in the New
Testament, and with the consciences of the believers, was confirmed
in the laws of the Brehons by Patrick and by the ecclesiastics and
the chieftains of Erin; for the law of nature had been quite right,
except the faith and its obligations, and the harmony of the church
and the people. And this is the _Senchus Mor_.

"Nine persons were appointed to arrange this book--viz., Patrick,
and Benen, and Cairnech, three bishops; Laeghairè, and Corc, and
Dairè, three kings; Rosa--_i.e._, Mac-Trechim, and
Dubhthach--_i.e._, a doctor of the _Bérla Feini_, and
Fergus--_i.e._, a poet.

"Nofis, therefore, is the name of this book which they
arranged--_i.e._, the knowledge of nine persons--and we have the
proof of this above."

And in one of the ancient commentaries on the introduction we are told:

"Before the coming of Patrick there had been remarkable revelations.
When the Brehons deviated from the truth of nature, there appeared
blotches upon their cheeks; as first of all on the right cheek of
Sen Mac Aige, whenever he pronounced a false judgment, but they
disappeared again when he had passed a true judgment, etc.

"Connla never passed a false judgment, through the grace of the Holy
Ghost, which was upon him.

"Sencha Mac Col Cluin was not wont to pass judgment until he had
pondered upon it in his breast the night before. When Fachtna, his
son, had passed a false judgment, if, in the time of fruit, all the
fruit of the territory in which it happened fell off in one night,
etc.; if in time of milk, the cows refused their calves; but if he
passed a true judgment the fruit was perfect on the trees; hence he
received the name of Fachtna Tulbrethach.

"Sencha Mac Aililla never pronounced a false judgment without
getting three permanent blotches on his face for each judgment.
Fitliel had the truth of nature, so that he pronounced no false
judgment. Morann never pronounced a judgment without having a chain
around his neck. 'When he pronounced a false judgment the chain
tightened around his neck. If he passed a true one it expanded down
upon him."

Corc and Dairè were territorial chieftains, or minor kings. Laeghairè, son of Niall of the Nine Hostages, was monarch of Erin; his reign commenced A.D. 428, four years before the arrival of Patrick, and ended with his life in 458, one year after the foundation of Armagh by that great Christian missionary. Laeghairè is usually called the first Christian king of Ireland, but it seems more likely from the evidence we have that he himself did not become a Christian, although he acknowledged the merit of St. Patrick, and gave him permission to preach and baptize, on condition that the peace of the kingdom should not be disturbed. Travellers in our time, by mail-steamers from Holyhead and the Island of Druids, may some of them not know that Kingstown is a name given, but a few years ago, to "Dunleary"--that is, the fortress of King Laeghairè, when George IV., by graciously landing there, supplanted the {133} memory of the ancient king. Dubhthach, Fergus, and Rossa, or Rosa, were eminent poets and learned men; they exhibited "from memory what their predecessors had _sung_"--for much of the ancient law was preserved in the form of verse, and Dubhthach, "royal poet of Erin," at the compilation of the _Senchus Mor_, put a thread of poetry round it for Patrick. Many parts of the work as we have it are in verse.

The subject of that part of the _Senchus Mor_ which is contained in the volume before us is the "Law of Distress"--that is, the legal rules under which distraint was to be made of persons, cattle, or goods, in a great variety of cases. To a general reader, the legal verbosity and trivial repetitions make the book hard to read; but imbedded in it, so to speak, are many curious little fragments of a very remote and obscure social system, and some of these we shall proceed to set before our readers.

Fines in cases of death, bodily hurt, insult, or injury of whatever kind were arranged according to the dignity of the parties concerned. The "honor-price" is the same for a king, a bishop, a chief law-professor, and a chief poet who can compose a quatrain extemporaneously.

At a feast, "his own proper kind of food" is assigned to persons of different rank--as, for example, the haunch for the king, bishop, and literary doctor; a leg for the young chief; a steak for the queen; the heads for the charioteers; and a _croichet_ [unknown part] for "a king opposed in his government."

Should a person have property, it shall not increase his honor-price, unless he do good with it.

A king with a personal blemish was allowed with difficulty, if at all.

In case of distress by or on a person of distinction, _fasting_ was a necessary legal form--the creditor had to "fast upon" his debtor until a pledge was given for the claim. Something very similar to this curious process is found in the ancient Hindoo laws, and appears to be practised in India to the present day, under the name of "_dherna_," According to Sir William Jones, the creditor sat at the debtor's door, abstaining from food, till, for fear of becoming accountable for the man's death, the debtor paid him. As to the Irish mode of "fasting upon" a debtor of the chieftain grade, exact particulars are not given; but it would seem that on presentation of the claim of distraint at the residence of the debtor the "fasting" began, and if the debtor did not pay or give a pledge, but allowed his creditor to go on fasting (it is not said for how long), he became liable to double the debt, and other penalties.

If one of inferior grade comes to sue one of the chieftain grade, he must be accompanied, on his part, by one of the chieftain grade.

Among articles enumerated as coming under various rather puzzling rules and exemptions in cases of distraint, we find, weapons for battle; a racehorse; a harp-comb, and other requisites for music; toys for the children--viz., "hurlets, balls, and hoops," and also "little dogs and cats;" the "eight parts which constitute a mill;" the fork and cauldron; the kneading-trough and sieve; the bed-furniture-- _i.e._, plaids and bolsters; the reflector or mirror; the chess-board; the seven valuable articles of the house of the chieftain--viz., "cauldron, vat, goblet, mug, reins, horse-bridle, and pin;" the cattle-bells, the griddle, the "branch-light of each person's house;" the lap-dog of a queen, the watch-dog, the hunting hound; implements of weaving and of spinning.

Fines and penalties were provided, among other cases, for withholding the food-tribute from a king or chief; for the deficiency of a feast; for neglecting the due clearing of roads in war, or in winter, or at time of a fair; for neglecting the due preparation of a fair-green; for neglecting any persons or things cast ashore by the sea (in this case the "territory" was liable); {134} for neglecting "the common net of the tribe;" for breaking the laws of rivers and fishing; for neglecting the due maintenance and medical treatment of the sick; for not helping in the erection of the common fort of the tribe; for not blessing a completed work. This last is a curious offence. "It was customary," we read in a note to p. 132, "for workmen, on completing any work, and delivering it to their employer, to give it their blessing. This was the 'abarta,' and if this blessing was omitted, the workman was subject to a fine, or loss of a portion of his fee, equal to a seventh part of his allowance of food while employed--the food to which a workman was entitled being settled by the law in proportion to the rank of the art or trade which he professed. And it would appear that the first person who saw it finished and neglected the blessing was also fined." To the present day, among Irish peasants, it is thought a marked omission if, in transferring or praising, or even taking notice of, any possession, especially if it be a living creature, one neglects to say "God bless it!" or "I wish you luck with it!" or some such good word; and where you see any work going on, it is right to say, "God bless the work!"

Distress was levied on defaulters for share in building "the common bridge of the tribe;" for beef to nourish the chief "during the time that he is making laws;" for the "cow from every tribe," sent on demand, "when the king is on the frontier of a territory with a host." "Now, the custom is that this cow is taken from some one man of them for the whole number. They make good that cow to him only." Also for the victualling of a fort; for guarding and feeding captives; for the maintenance of a fool, or of a madwoman, or of an aged person, or of a child. "Five cows is the fine for neglecting to provide for the maintenance of the fool who has land, and _power of amusing;_ and his having these is the cause of the smallness of the fine. Ten cows is the fine for neglecting to provide for the maintenance of every madwoman; and the reason that the fine is greater than that of the fool is, for the madwoman is not a minstrel, and has not land. If the fool has not land, or has not power of amusing, the fine for neglecting to provide for his maintenance is equal to that of the madwoman who can do no work." "A 'cumhal' of eight cows is the fine for neglecting to maintain any family senior who has land after his eighty-eighth year. As to each man of unknown age after his ninetieth year, his land shall pass from the family who have not maintained him to an extern family who have maintained him. As to every senior of a family and man of unknown age without land, a 'cumhal' of five 'seds' is the fine for not maintaining him."

There are fines for evil words, false reports, slander, nicknames, and satire. The poets were supposed to have the power of turning a man's hair gray by force of satire, or even of killing him. There are also fines for "failure of _hosting_," "the head of every family of the lay grades is to go into the battle;" "every one who has a shield to shelter him, and who is fit for battle, is to go upon the plundering excursion." "Three services of attack" are enumerated--on pirates, aggressors, and wolves; and "three services of defence"--to secure "promontories [hills?], lonely passes, and boundaries."

"Distress of three days for using thy horse, thy boat, thy basket, thy cart, thy chariot, for wear of thy vessel, thy vat, thy great cauldron, thy cauldron; for 'dire'-fine in respect of thy house, for stripping thy herb-garden, for stealing thy pigs, thy sheep; for wearing down thy hatchet, thy wood-axe; for consuming the things cast upon thy beach by the sea, for injuring thy meeting-hill, for digging thy silver mine, for robbing thy bee-hive, for the fury of thy fire, for the crop of thy sea marsh, for the 'dire'-fine in respect to thy corn-rick, thy turf, thy ripe {135} corn, thy ferns, thy furze, thy rushes, if without permission; for slighting thy law, for slighting thy inter-territorial law, for enforcing thy 'Urradhus' law; _in the case_ of good fosterage, _in the case_ of bad fosterage, the fosterage fee in the case over fosterage _for_ cradle clothes; for recovering the dues of the common tillage land, for recovering the dues of joint fosterage, for recovering the dues of lawful relationship, for unlawful tying, over-fettering of horses, breaking a _fence_ to let cows into the grass; breaking it before calves _to let them_ to the cows. The restitution of the milk is in one day."

There are also fines for quarrelling in a fort; for disturbing the meetinghill; for stripping the slain; for refusing a woman "the longed-for morsel;" for scaring the timid, with a mask or otherwise; for causing a person to blush; for carrying a boy on your back into a house so as to strike his head; for love-charms and "bed-witchcraft;" for neglect in marriage; for "setting the charmed morsel for a dog--_i.e._, to prove it;" for failure as to "the safety of a hostage;" for "withholding his fees from the Brehon."

For mutilation and for murder, the "eric-fine and honor-price" varied according to circumstances.

Distress of five days' stay is "for not erecting the tomb of thy chief;" "for false boasting of a dead woman;" for satirizing her after her death; for causing to wither any kind of tree; for the eric-fine for an oath of secret murder.

In certain cases, persons were exempted from distress for a longer or shorter period. For example: "A man upon whom _the test of the cauldron_ is enjoined--_i.e._, to go to a testing cauldron--and he shall have exemption until he returns;" "a man whose wife is in labor;" "a man who collects the food-tribute of a chief."

The bodies and bones of the dead are protected by penalties. There is a fixed fine and "honor-price" for carrying away the remains of a bishop out of his tomb (as relics?); also _breaking bones_ in a churchyard, "to take the marrow out of them for sorcerers." "The bone of a king drowned in the stream, or of a hermit condemned to the sea and the wind," belongs to the people of the land where it happens to be cast, until the tribe of the deceased pay for its redemption.

There are penalties for "lookers-on" at an ill deed; and these are divided into three classes: "a looker-on of full fine" is one who "instigates, and accompanies, and escorts, and exults;" of half fine, one who does not instigate, but does the other acts; of quarter-fine, one who "accompanies only, and does not prohibit, and does not save." Clerics, women, and boys are exempt.

One is accountable (in different degrees) for one's own crime, the crime of a near kinsman, the crime of a middle kinsman, and the crime of a kinsman in general.