28 Mr. Weaver on Irish Tin Ore. 



King and Weaver, the directors under Government of the 

 gold workings in that county, dated 1st August J 801, pub- 

 lished in the second volume of the Transactions of the Dub- 

 lin Society; but that in the catalogues of the minerals in Tri- 

 nity College Museum, drawn up in 1807 and 1818, no speci- 

 men of Irish tinstone is mentioned ; and hence it is said, " we 

 might almost be induced to suspect that some other substance 

 must have been mistaken for tinstone by the directors of the 

 works." It is then added, " The next notice of this metal 

 being found in Ireland is in the catalogue of Irish minerals in 

 the museum of the Royal Dublin Society, published in 1832 

 by the late Sir Charles Giesecke." And the author concludes 

 with a notice of his examination of some washed sand lately 

 obtained from the gold works now carrying on by a company, 

 under tenure from the Crown, at Croghan Kinshela mountain, 

 accompanied by an analysis of " fragments of an earthy-look- 

 ing mineral, someof them presentingcrystalline planes, abraded 

 by friction," which were contained in the sand ; from which 

 analysis Dr. Smith affirms, "in corroboration of the assertion 

 of MM. Mills, King and Weaver, that 'native oxide of tin' 

 exists in the county of Wicklow." 



This subject is also adverted to in the able address delivered 

 by James Apjohn, Esq., M.D., as President to the Geological 

 Society of Dublin, on the 10th February 1841, in which it is 

 said, " Dr. Smith, therefore, must be considered as entitled 

 to the credit of removing all doubt as to a point long disputed, 

 and equally interesting to the Irish capitalist and the man of 

 science." 



It is a curious subject for reflection, how well-ascertained 

 facts, widely known and never questioned at the time, and 

 afterwards placed repeatedly upon record, should in the lapse 

 of years not only be lost sight of, but that their validity should 

 even become a matter of dispute. 



To refresh the memories of the older members of the Dub- 

 lin Society (among whom my name stands enrolled since the 

 commencement of this century), and to convey information to 

 such persons as may not be cognizant of all the circumstances, 

 it may be useful to enter into some details, and to repeat others, 

 which I certainly never anticipated could have been called for 

 at this time of day. 



After the discovery of native gold at Ballinvalley, in Cro- 

 ghan Kinshela mountain, in 1796, and the establishment of 

 the government stream-works there, all the metallic substances 

 disseminated through the diluvial deposit, being concentrated 

 in a mass by the successive operations of washing (well known 

 to professed miners), were always brought under my eye for 

 examination, and it was thus that at Ballinvalley I found that 



