152 ^^*^ Irisli NafuYalisi. Oct. -Nov., 



mentions the cave, the description being a hash-up of the 

 accounts of older writers, made without acknowledgment 

 or personal knowledge, in true guide-book style. 



In 1825 the Cave of Dunmore makes, so far as I am 

 aware, its first and last appearance in fiction. In " Crohoore 

 of the Billhook," by Michael Banim (1), part-author of the 

 well-known Tales by the " O'Hara Family," Chapter viii. 

 opens W'ith a description of the cavern, and closes with a 

 tragedy perpetrated in its depths. 



In the Dublin Philosophical Journal and Scientific 

 Review for February, 1826 (8), John Hart, first restorer of 

 the skeleton of the " Irish Elk," publishes the first accurate 

 description of the cave, with measurements. He found 

 abundance of human bones, but none of any other animal — 

 not even of the Rabbits, which still colonize the earthy 

 floor. He points out that the burying ground of the 

 Church of Mothel stands within sixty perches of the entrance, 

 and believes that the human remains were washed into the 

 cave from that spot. 



Thomas Kitson Cromwell, in his anonymous work 

 " Excursions through Ireland," vol. iii., 1828 (3), considers 

 the cave as " somewhat too greatly celebrated " ; he failed 

 to see all the wonders of the " Post-Chaise Companion," 

 but mentions that the extent of " this excavation " is such 

 that there English olftcers, venturing in without guides, 

 were lost there for twenty-four hours, till finally rescued by 

 their friends. 



The Dublin Penny Journal, storehouse of local descrip- 

 tion, publishes in 1832 (12) the first illustration of the cave, 

 a wood-cut portraying the entrance, with a description 

 (over the signature " P "), which is mainly a quotation 

 from " Crohoore of the Billhook." 



The next notice of the cave will be found in the 

 Proceedings of the Geological Society of Dubhn for 1848 

 (10), where the President, Robert Mallet, discusses the 

 composition of the stalagmites, pointing out the existence 

 in them of phosphoric acid, and the fact that between 

 the layers fine bands of charcoal occur. 



On March 31st, 1854, Mr. J. G. Robertson read a paper 

 on Dunmore Cave before the Kilkenny Literary and 



