190 1. 47 



OBITUARY, 



FREDERICK WILLIAM EGAN, B.A. 



Frederick William Egan, B.A., L.CE-, T.C.D., of the Geological 

 Survey of Ireland died on the 6th January, 1901, after a severe illness, 

 which by his medical attendants was attributed to internal injuries 

 received in a car accident during his official duties some eighteen months 

 ago. Mr. Egan was born in Dublin in 1836, and was educated at Trinity 

 College in that city. Having taken out his degree of B.A. and diploma 

 in Engineering, he commenced his professional career as civil engineer 

 in connection with the Irish railways then in course of construction. 

 This work, however, he relinquished when, in 1868, he was appointed 

 Assistant Geologist on the staff of the Geological Survey of Ireland, on 

 the nomination of the late Prof. Jukes, F.R.S. In 1890 he was promoted 

 to the grade of Geologist by the present^ Director-General, Sir A. 

 Geikie, D.C.L., F.R.S. Although Mr. Egan did not contribute in- 

 dependent papers on geological subjects, he nevertheless rendered con- 

 siderable service to that science by the great care he bestowed on the 

 work entrusted to him, as is evidenced by his maps and official memoirs. 

 Uniting his knowledge as an engineer to the experience gained on the 

 Survey, he was an excellent authority on many economic questions, e.g., 

 water supply, while no deposits of any useful material escaped his 

 observation. During early years on the Survey his work lay chiefly 

 in Gounties Down and Antrim, among Silurian, Mesozoic, and Tertiary 

 formations, and he afterwards took part in the survey of the interesting 

 volcanic district of Slieve Gullion in County Armagh. In Tyrone and 

 Derry he surveyed the complicated area comprising Slieve Gallion and 

 Cookstown, devoting special attention to the remarkable iron-ore 

 deposits near that town, the industrial development of which was then 

 being attempted by the Barrow Mining Company. Northwards, Mr. 

 Egan mapped the Calciferous Sandstone, Triassic, Cretaceous, and 

 basaltic rocks east of Dungiven and L,iinavady, and, ultimately, joining 

 his colleagues in Donegal, he mapped the districts about Killygordon. 

 in the Finn Valley to the south, and Horn Head and the coast to the 

 Bloody Foreland in the north. 



The primary work of the Survey being now accomplished, Mr. Egan 

 was one of the staff retained to carry out revisions, and, with his colleague 

 Mr. M'Henry, he re-surveyed for this purpose the Silurian tracts in the 

 north-east and east of Ireland, and was indeed engaged in this work 

 when he met with the accident which resulted in his lamented death. 

 Mr. Egan was of a singularly affable, obliging, and kindly disposition, 

 which won the affection of all who knew him, and in an especial degree 

 of his fellow- workers on the Geological Survey, who much regret the 

 removal from among them, after an intimate association of over thirty 

 years, of so genial and agreeable a friend and companion. 



Joseph Noi^an. 



