144 The Irish NatnraHst. June, 



have, in an offhand manner, asserted that what has been col- 

 lected is the oil of commerce escaping from an ordinary storage 

 depot. This is an absurd theor}-, arrived at without technical 

 assistance." 



Councillor Briscoe is quoted as the rival authoritj^ who has 

 already brought "the few University disbelievers" over the 

 ** bog origin idea." The dome like formation of Mountjoy- 

 square is cited in favour of the supply being natural, as if this 

 surface-feature had anything to do with bogland, or, on the 

 other hand, with any anticlinal curvature of the underlying 

 strata. On the same reasoning the dome of St. Paul's should 

 form a happy hunting ground. Dr. Ryan and Mr. O'Farrelly 

 (p. 805) are, however, very fairly treated, their results being 

 stated in full, while Mr. Briscoe is made to pose as holding 

 "an anti-collegiate view." The article then goes off Irom 

 Dublin, and we are glad to learn later that ** Dublin Univer- 

 sity wiseacres may be right." But, if so, why *' wiseacres "? 

 Why this studious posing of the " technical" man against the 

 cultivators of observation and research ? Why, on that special 

 visit to Dublin, was no attempt made to secure a sample of 

 the oil from those who had collected and examined it when it 

 was running freely ? It is this attitude of contemptuous oppo- 

 sition to research that makes the article seem worthy of men- 

 tion in these pages. It goes far to justify the pessimism of 

 scientists in regard to Britain's industrial future ; for unfor- 

 tunately it by no means stands alone. Ireland has much to 

 learn from England, both in method and steady application ; 

 but it would be no matter for surprise if the " unpractical " 

 country, with her keener intellectual use of the imagination, 

 were to establish her growing industries on a firmer basis 

 than that accepted so complacently across the water. 



Royal College of Science, Dublin. 



