Oct. lo, 1878] 



NATURE 



627 



word may be said. I think that I am not in error in 

 saying that the minds of most persons are imbued, more 

 or less deeply/with the idea that nature is ultimately very 

 simple ; that could we but grasp the great laws of nature 

 we should find them extremely simple, although the 

 results of their actions are so wonderfully complex. This 

 belief appears to be deep-rooted in most minds, yet if 

 we are to study nature aright we must, I am persuaded, 

 set it aside. We must be content to take nature as she 

 is, /.(?., we must do our best to amass facts, and from 

 these we must draw the conclusions warranted by 

 the facts. Now as our knowledge of nature extends 

 do we find that she becomes to us more and more simple ? 

 Yes, and No. It has been now and again giren to a 

 gifted few to pierce through the maze of tangled facts 

 and to espy the great principle which binds them into an 

 harmonious whole. But even in the case of these great 

 generalisations, exact experiment and observation fre- 

 quently show that little details have been overlooked — 

 that the great simple law is too simple — that there are 

 discrepancies, very small, it is true, but still there they 

 are, demanding an explanation, telling us that our law 

 does not express the whole of Nature's facts. Nature 

 appears to be truly infinite ; and it is well to remember 

 that, %ve can 'never get sensibly 7iearer a knowledge of an 

 infinity. 



This idea of the simplicity of nature is very apt to lead 

 us to adopt the hypothesis of the non-elementary nature 

 of the elements without sufficient evidence. The idea 

 that all the elements are really compounds of one primary 

 form of matter is a most fascinating idea, it seems to be 

 so much in keeping with the simplicity of nature ; it is so 

 symmetrical, it surely musthe true. This is just how the 

 old alchemists reasoned ; we must absolutely forbid these 

 a priori conclusions to influence us as students of nature. 

 The hypothesis of the compound nature of the elements, 

 of the existence of but one, or even of a few primary forms 

 of nature, fits in with the nebular hypothesis of the for- 

 mation of the worlds, but have we facts to support it ? 

 If one can only come back to facts we need not fear to 

 start what may appear to be wild and romantic theories. 



The outcome of the whole matter is this : — we want 

 more knowledge, our facts are few and vague ; there is 

 room for almost unlimited work. Ask Nature ; trust 

 her : be sceptical of your own interpretations of her 

 answers. M. M. Pattison Muir 



THE LATE SIR RICHARD GRIFFITH, BART. 



A17E have just laid to rest all that is mortal of the 

 '* "Father of Irish Geology" in Mount Jerome 

 Cemetery, at the ripe age of ninety-four years. Few 

 public men in Ireland have done so much for the material 

 advancement of their country. If " the age makes the 

 man" the late Sir Richard Griffith was the man whom 

 the age called forth to indicate the road to material im- 

 provement at a time when roads, railroads, drainage 

 works, and similar agents were urgently required in this 

 country. Griffith's geological knowledge was the basis 

 of his power; and Avhile few understood, or cared to 

 understand, the principles by which his judgment was 

 guided. Government and the public were always ready to 

 put faith in their application. Amongst the useful works 

 carried out under his direction were the roads which he 

 constructed or improved in the counties of Cork, Kerry, 

 and Limerick, during the time when the Marquis Welles- 

 ley was Lord-Lieutenant. Some of these roads are 

 striking examples of engineering skill. I have recently 

 travelled on one of them, namely, that which crosses the 

 wild and rocky range between Kenmare and Glengarriff. 

 Before this road was made the country was inaccessible 

 and the haunt of Whiteboys ; now no district in the 

 British Isles is safer for the traveller, and, I may add, 

 more full of bold and beautiful scenery. With reference 



to Griffith's services to the cause of Irish geology, it is 

 unnecessary for me to say a word here, except in so far 

 as regards the public department with which I have the 

 honour to be connected. It is to this subject that I wish 

 especially to direct the attention of the readers of Nature, 

 as I am anxious to pay a tribute to the remarkable acumen 

 which Griffith exhibited in determining the age of the 

 various formations which are to be found in this country, 

 as exemplified in at least one special instance. 



It is well known that there is one point in the geologi- 

 cal structure of the south-west of Ireland on which there 

 has been a difference of opinion between the Government 

 geological surveyors and Sir R. Griffith ; I refer to the 

 age of that great group of rocks which occupies the 

 mountainous districts of the Dingle promontory, and 

 those of Killarney, the Reeks, and Glengarriff. These 

 were called by the late Prof. Jukes " The Dingle Beds," 

 and they consist of a series of purple slates traversed by 

 cleavage planes and massive green grits, and throvvTi inta 

 numerous grand flexures. They are of great but un- 

 known thickness, as in the Dingle promontory they are 

 overlaid unconformably by the beds of the Old Red Sand- 

 stone. In the Dingle promontory these beds are seen in 

 contact with fossiliferous beds of recognised Upper Silu- 

 rian age, and the whole series had been referred by 

 Griffith to the " Silurian " formation, as may be seen by 

 reference to his geological map of Ireland (edit. 1855). 

 In a similar manner the mountainous regions above- 

 named, and lying to the south of Dingle Bay, were 

 mapped and coloured as " Silurian," and were separated 

 off from the Old Red Sandstone throughout the counties 

 of Cork, Kerry, and Waterford. 



The views thus held and published by Griffith with re- 

 gard to the geological age of the rocks forming the 

 south-western highlands were not upheld by the officers 

 of the Geological Survey, who, we may be sure, spared 

 no pains to come to some clear decision on the question. 

 j On the maps of the Survey the mountains of Kerry and 

 I Cork are coloured "Old Red Sandstone," and **the 

 I Dingle Beds," with a distinct colouring, are placed in a 

 i position intermediate between the Old Red Sandstone and 

 I that of the Upper Silurian. Prof. Jukes, in the "Ex- 

 i planations " to accompany the maps of the Survey, has 

 i fully entered into the reasons which induced him and his 

 I able colleagues to arrive at this decision. Certain appa- 

 ! rent obscurities in the sections of the Dingle district and 

 those of the neighbouring regions prevented them accept- 

 ing Griffiths' views, and the whole matter was left an 

 open question, subject to further investigation. 



Under these circumstances — the time being favourable 

 — I received the sanction of the Director-General to- 

 make a preliminary examination of the sections at Dingle 

 and in the districts of Killarney, Kenmare, and Glen- 

 gariff— with a view (if possible) of coming to some deci- 

 sion on a question which has been confessedly left in 

 an unsatisfactory position. In this tour I was accom- 

 panied by Mr. J. O' Kelly and Mr. A. McHenry, officers 

 of the Survey — and we have returned from it fully satis- 

 fied in our own minds of the correctness of Sir R. 

 Griffith's views regarding the age of the beds of the 

 Dingle, Killarney, and Glengarriff Ranges. To our minds 

 the evidence is clear and satisfactory that these beds are 

 really of Upper Silurian age, as maintained by Griffith. 

 Into this evidence I cannot enter here, but hope to do 

 so at some length in another place. It was with great 

 gratification that some days since I addressed a letter 

 from Eccles' Hotel, Glengarriff, to Sir R. Griffithj 

 announcing the result of our investigations. I little 

 knew that at that moment the spirit of our venerable 

 friend had passed away ! Few men were less dogmatic 

 in maintaining their conclusions than Griffith. If others 

 differed from him he remitted the matter to the arbitra- 

 ment of time, satisfied that if he was in the right time 

 would show it. In this case it is only justice to his 



