132 REPORT—1857. 
able readily to compile a vast aigkenn of the words used in the laws, with all the 
quotations to illustrate their meaning, arranged alphabetically. He had to mention, 
as an interesting fact, that Mr. Curry had been enabled, by this glossary, to inves- 
tigate some of the legal terms in the ancient Welsh laws, which the Welsh transla- 
tors had been unable fully to explain. The language of these manuscripts was very 
ancient, and the writing was in many places scarcely legible: hence it was impos- 
sible to estimate the amount of labour and of eyesight expended on them. This great 
work, however, was worth all the labour devoted to it. It was a most important con- 
tribution to our history, for nothing better explained the history and manners of a 
people than their laws and institutions. They throw a light even upon the history 
of other countries. The glossary which they had formed would be of the utmost 
value for the knowledge of the Celtic languages ; and he had no doubt that the Bre- 
hen Laws would present to us a picture of the civilization of this country as it existed 
from twelve to fifteen hundred years ago. What length of time would be requisite, 
he might be asked, until this work would be completed? He had already told them 
what had been done in the last four years, and if it took as much more it would be 
worth the expense. He was happy to inform them that there was no fear that the 
work would be left unfinished. At the close of the late session of Parliament the 
Government had provided ample means for completing and publishing it. 
The Rev. Professor Graves made a communication, the object of which was to 
identify the river Dur, mentioned by Ptolemy in his description of Ireland, with the 
Kenmare river. ‘The principal argument by which Dr. Graves endeavoured to esta- 
blish this conclusion, rests on the fact that at the mouth of the Kenmare river is an 
island retaining to this day the name of Dursey. The obvious and certain deriva- 
tion of this name is Durs-ey, i. e. the “ Island of Dur,” “ Dur” meaning water. 
Dr. Graves noticed that the termination ‘ey,’’ meaning island, entered into the 
names of Dalkey, Ireland’s Eye, and Lambay, on the Irish coast, not to mention 
Anglesey and other islands on the coast of Britain. The order in which Ptolemy 
enumerates the principal headlands, rivers, and maritime towns of Ireland also 
shows that the river which he calls the Dur is on our south-west coast. Ware and 
O’Connor have expressed the opinion that the Dur of Ptolemy was Dingle Bay, or 
Castlemaine Bay, but they have stated no grounds for their belief. Dr. Graves con- 
cluded by observing that the Irish topographical names appearing in Ptolemy’s list 
deserve a more complete discussion than they have yet received. 
On the Influence of the Gulf-stream on the Climate of Ireland. 
By Professor Hennessy, F.R.S., MRLA. 
By referring to a large map of the British Isles*, the isothermal lines, or lines indi- 
cating the distribution of equal temperature, were shown to run not even approxi- 
mately in the direction of the parallels of latitude, as might be expected, but in 
curves almost concentric, and following very nearly the windings of the coast. These 
relations to the coast line illustrated a fact first pointed out by Dr. Lloyd, President 
of the Association, which was deduced from a series of both day and night observa- 
tions, namely, that the mean temperature of the sea off the west coast of Ireland is 
fonr degrees higher than the main temperature of the land. All these facts are easily 
explained by the phenomenon of the Gulf-stream, or warm current of water, which, 
as is well known to navigators, flows from the Gulf of Mexico in the direction of 
those islands and the north-west coast of Europe. That current of water, heated 
in the warm regions where it commences, exercises its influence very sensibly on the 
atmosphere, raising its temperature, and charging it with vapours, which are known 
to give out a certain amount of heat during their subsequent precipitation. From 
Dr. Wilde’s historical ‘ Report on the Diseases and Cosmical Phenomena of Treland,’ 
presented with the Census returns, extreme depressions of temperature appear to 
have taken place in remote ages in that country ; and such changes might have been 
* A copy of this map has been published in the ‘Atlantis’ for July 1858, and in the 
‘Proceedings of the Royal Society,’ Part 32. ; 
