Note 8 — THE RIVAL PRACTITIONERS.

Ballaghlanagh was the name of an old Irish bard (by tradition), whose ghost used to come the night before to people who were to be killed fighting in battle on the morning: and as a ghost offers the most convincing proof that the mortal it represents is no longer living, the term Ballaghlanagh, came, figuratively, to signify a “dead man.” I learnt this explanation from the old colloughs, who all joined exactly in the same tradition.