Chicago eagle. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1889-19??, 1894-09-22
SKULL OF KING ROBERT BRUCE
Peculiar Sensation That EdlDburg HAS
been Enjoying.

Peculiar Sensation That Edinburg Mas
f,een Enjoying.
After 4O5 years Edinburg has been
enjoying the peculiar sensation of
gazing on the skull of King Robert
the Bruce. The relic. It Is true, Is
not the actual Uranium Of the hero Of
BannOck burn, but merely cast from
the original. which, We trust, for the
honor Of Scotland, may be permitted
10 lie forevermore undisturbcd In the
Abbey Of Dunfermline. For IL was
there that in the year 1929, the King
was laid beside his second wife,
Elizabeth de Burph, daughter of the
Earl of Ulster and mother Of David
IL Even the cast, however, is of In.
tcrest. Apart from the fat that 1t
was actually taken from tho Kings
skull, the story of how 1t was OBJ
tained Is not wholly without some Of
the elements Of romance.
That King Robert was buried In
Dunfermline, then a favOritc resi-
dence of the scottish sovereigns, ad-
mits Of no doubt. But the tomb
which he had planned with such care
appears to have been lost sight of
during tho turmoil of ages and the
decay Of the church which followed
the icOnoclasm Of the reformation.
But in 1919, in clearing the founda.
ton for u third church on the same
spot, the Kings blneS were discOv-
cred and duly reintcrred with the
.cverence due to a monarch who,
whatever may have been his fault as
a man, must ever live in the national
memory as one Of the greatest of he.
rocs
vt the time some interest was
naturally taken IN the d sccvery, and
IL would seem that the celebrated
DR.. Gregory, Professor Of Medicine
In the University OF Edinburg. who
bears the incOngruOus reputation of
being at one the author of treatise
In almost classic Latinity and of q
"mixture" abhorred by three genera.
| tiOns Of child en-, had cast taken OF
the priceless relic. 1t was lost for q
while. hut was recently discovered
IL a house !orme ~ occupied by the
physician, and will In future, with
the presumptive skull Of George Bu
chanan, occupy an honOred place In
the University museum.
As might have been anticipated
from the character of Bruce, the
Uranium Is said to he Of large brain
capacity. and to exhibit that mas
sivc lower Jaw, which is understood
to denote the ilrmncss that was one
Of the characteristics OF the Carrick
family. Bruce, history aiiirms, diet
Of lcprosy, after leading the secluded
life necessitated by his fearful nal
ady, in CardrOss Castle, on the north
ern shore OF the Forth OF Clyde Th,
physicians who examined the cast o
the skull declare that IL bears un
mistakable evidences OF the four
ccntury.Old legend being truer thar
tradition often Is The King IL salt
to have contracted the malady abou
ten years before IL carried him oil
He had Just returned to Scotlan'
from q taihpaign in ireland In aid o
his brother. Edward, to bcsiege Bet
wick.On.'Tweed, tIcn notorious 10
the number Of It's leper population
| McItloI ICS VI .uCSC sum CAISV iu
tai. the sea.bathing place on tn
English side Of the river, the lazarctt
to which the sick were taken bcin
established there. Lep-Osy, indeed
was so common In these Islands dun
Ing tho Middle Ages that there were
according to the late Sir Jane
Simpson, ninoty.tive large lepe
houses In England, besides u numDc
In Ireland aud Scotland, where thcr
were traces Of leprosy until near tn
close Of the last century.
Another Of the many picturcsqu
legends connected with the Bruc
was that, being absolved by the Pop
for the sacrilege of staying Re
COmyn In the Minorite Fralrs Churc
In Dulnfries, he charged Sir Jane
Douglas to carry his heart to Pale,
tine aud bury II In jerusalem. DOul
las-as a score OF ballads have In
mortalized--fell fighting against I'll
MOOrs In Spain. After the haiti
was over Douglas was found iyin
over the cnshrined heart, which wa
carried back to Scotland and inuerre
by Sir Simon Locard under the hig
altar OF MelrOse Abbey, where pOss
oily It still lies. But though LOcar
! changed his name from this incidcr
10 "I.Ockheart," Us the modern Loci
hart was then spelled, and bore
his arms a heart within u fetterlOcl
research, more difficult to satisfy tina
tradition, is inclined to credit 5
William Keith with actually recOvc
ing tho Kings heart The hlstol
OF Bruce rests SO much on the metr
. cal panegyric OF Barbour that 1t
satisfactory to know that the MOI
material part OF this story Is tru
For when the corpse was disintcrre
iu 1919 the breast bone was four
severed to admito OF the removal OF Il
kings heart Thus after more tina
four centuries two salient facts In Il