Hi Jim. It sounds that way to me. The closest word to "dentes" in the Scots Dictionary is "dent," which means either "a mouldy smell" or "tough clay or soft claystone." I don't think Maren ate dirt exactly, but the dictionary also says "dent" originated with an English word which meant "sooty coal." If the toxicity of inhaled coal dust was known in 1653, I wonder if Maren was hoping that ingesting it would be toxic to the child. Being carbon, coal would probably be inert if ingested, but desperate people sometimes grasp at straws. -----Original Message----- From: ayrshire-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:ayrshire-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Jim Bundy Sent: Sunday, March 21, 2010 4:29 PM To: Rootsweb Ayrshire Subject: [AYR] Kilmarnock Kirk Session Minutes, note 65 Hi Listers, I have a question re this page: Am I correct in thinking that Maren was trying to abort the chyld? And that "Baynous tabis" was a kind of Latin legal term for this offence? Jim Bundy ... Maren Neill being delate & sumondit for fornicaon wt Johne Smyth compeired confessing that she was wt chyld to the sd Johne Smyth And that she took some dentes to put back the child, bot yt Johne Smith had no base met, the session finding her sine Baynous tabis her censure to consideration In the meantime recommend her to diverse elders to be spoken to effectually for being ing of hir to the sense of hir sine