215. _Ash-sap given to new-born Children._--Lightfoot, in his _Flora
Scotia_, vol. ii. p. 642., says--
"That in many parts of Scotland (the Highlands), at the birth of a
child the nurse or midwife puts one end of a great stick of the
ash-tree into the fire, and while it is burning receives into a
spoon the sap or juice which oozes out at the other end, and
administers this as the first spoonfuls of liquor to the new-born
babe."--Phillip's _Sylva Flora_.
Why?