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This review is based investigations on the Western Isles, Scotland, by Martin Martin, a notable Scottish Highlander, academic and medical doctor, of the 17th–18th century. His extensive observations of the geography and peoples of these Isles were recorded in his books, "On the Description of the Western Islands of Scotland Circa 1695" and "A Late Voyage to St Kilda". In these books and subsequent papers there were some noteworthy observations on the occurrence (and as he says non-occurrence) of "epidemical" diseases and conditions afflicting the peoples of The Isle of Skye and the Western Isles of Scotland in this period, and these are discussed in this review. Martin also gives details of a wide variety of remedies that were observed or reported by inhabitants around that time. Some of these remedies are interesting for their relevance to the period but others are of doubtful merit. These are reviewed here more for their significance in the understanding of the diseases and conditions of humans and even in some cases animals at that time. Introductions by Charles Withers and R.W. Munro, 11 and re-assessments of the contributions of Martin and colleagues of that time have given insight into the health and condition of peoples of the Western Isles of Scotland(the Occidental) (Martin 1695; Martin 1716). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper develops a relational framework to interpret ethnographic data on the way residents of a community‐owned estate in the Western Isles of Scotland evaluated and contributed to collective quality of life. The analysis compares conversations with community development professionals and crofters to identify social and cultural structures influencing their contrasting interpretations of locally valued qualities of social attachment, belonging, and community. The framework integrates perspectives from phenomenological anthropology with Heidegger's theory of Being‐in‐the‐world to describe how structures of care, temporality, mood, and discourse influenced the dynamics of sociocultural diversity, interpretations of social relationships, and collective efforts to compose favorable conditions for co‐existence in a small population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]