152 The Irish Naturalist. [June. 



ing catastrophe were noticed. Sergeant King, r.i.c., states 

 positively that he and other officers on patrol heard rumbling 

 noises some days before the occurrence. Further, it is certain 

 that some of the peasantry were so alarmed by sounds, which 

 they attributed to the banshee, that the parish priest was sent 

 for to pray with several families. 



The evidence as to whether the actual bursting of the bog 

 was accompanied by sounds is conflicting. Some state that 

 they were awakened by a loud roar ; others, including Mr. 

 MacSweeney, of Quarry I^odge, slept as usual. But this 

 negative evidence is of little or no value ; for, in one instance, 

 the flood passed within fifty yards of a cottage, breaking down 

 and sweeping away the trees of the adjacent haggard, without 

 arousing the occupants. 



It is obvious that, before the outbreak, the condition of the 

 bog was that of a viscous fluid enclosed within a resistant 

 wall. The pressure of the fluid and the tension of the 

 envelope were then in equilibrium. Owing to an increase in 

 pressure or a decrease in the tensile strength of the retaining 

 wall, this equilibrium was destroyed, the envelope was ruptured 

 at its weakest part, and the viscous fluid, under a head of 

 pressure, rushed down the inclined surface provided by the 

 natural drainage of the country. 



Before entering further into the discussion of the causes 

 which led to the outburst, it will be convenient to present 

 here information we have collected concerning similar 

 occurrences which have taken place in the past. We give 

 first a list of those which have aff'ected the bogs of this 

 country ; they are arranged in chronological order. 



A.D. 1697, June 7. Kapanihane Bogy Co. Limerick^ near Charlevilk. — 

 This occurrence is so quaintly described in a letter, dated June 7, 1697, 

 that it is worth quoting verbatim ct literatim : — 



♦* On the 7th Day of June^ 1697, near Charleville, in the County of 

 Limerick, ^in Ireland, a great Rumbling, or faint Noise was heard in 

 the Earth, much like unto a Sound of Thunder near spent ; for a little 

 Space the Air was somewhat troubled with little Whisking Winds, 

 seeming to meet contrary Ways: And soon after that, to the greater 

 Terror and Afrightment of a great Number of Spectators, a more 

 wonderful thing happened ; for in a Bog stretching North and South, 

 the Earth began to move, viz. Meadow and Pasture Land that lay on the 

 side of the Bog, and separated by an extraordinary large Ditch, and other 

 Land on the further side adjoining to it ; and a Rising, or little Hill in 

 the middle of the Bog hereupon sunk flat. 



