142 The Irish Naturalist. Jnne, 



deposits. A smaller spring rises in the front of the basement 

 of the house, and both are conducted into the main drain 

 along Sumnierhill. 



On hearing of the entr}- of oil into Mrs. Moran's premises, 

 the neighbours cleared their pipe, but found no present leak- 

 age. I informed the Department of the facts on February 

 2nd, but suggested that the material might still be from a 

 natural source; and on the nth I sent in the results of Mr. 

 Pollok's examination of the oil which he himself collected. 

 These rCvSults showed that the material was artificiall}- refined 

 oil, and not a crude petroleum ; and Mr. Moran was informed 

 of this through official channels on Februaiy 13th. 



Meanwhile, on February 3rd, the Eve7ii7ig Telegraph of 

 Dublin had published an accurate and cautious article, headed 

 " Oil spring or oil barrel ?" in which a sketch of the conduit 

 was given, and attention was drawn to Mr. M'Cullagh's ad- 

 jacent oil-store. This article was repeated in the Frce7na7is 

 Jo7ir7ial of the follow'ing daj^ 



The oil, curiousb^ enough, continued to flow on the surface 

 of the water, and news of it became widel}^ spread in I^ondon. 

 On February 14th, the Petroleum Review and Mining A^ews re- 

 corded the bare fact of its occurrence, wiseh^ awaiting further 

 information, and stating that samples w^ere in the hands of 

 Prof. Joly and myself. Somewhere about February i6th, 

 however, a London journal, a cutting from which has reached 

 us without proper heading, announced that a Dublin scientist, 

 " Professor Call, states that he has no doubt that it is a natural 

 petroleum spring." Experts w^ere said to recommend boring, 

 and it was asserted that the landlord had received notice to be 

 prepared for operations which the Agricultural Board were 

 about to carry out. The well, it was stated, had flowed "in 

 its crude state " for several years past, the crude state being 

 presumably water. Such is our latter-day journalism ! 



About February i8th the West77ii7ister Gazette sent an inter- 

 viewer to Mr. Henry, the editor of Petroleum, another organ 

 of the oil trade, and received rather optimistic opinions. Mr. 

 Henry stated that he had sent a bottle of the oil to Dr. Bover- 

 ton Redwood, and regarded it as " a very fair oil," adding, "It 

 is not crude or liquid fuel oil." Mr. Henry is further reported 

 as haviiig staled that the land at Summerhill was reclaimed 



