1 62 A HISTORY OF 



In 1 8 12, it was decided to appoint a professor 

 of chemistry, and a professor of mineralogy and 

 geology ; the latter to have a salary of ^300 a year. 

 Mr. Jameson, professor of mineralogy in the Uni- 

 versity of Edinburgh, was appointed to the post. 

 Greater care was now to be taken in the arrange- 

 ment of the museum, and the professor, it was 

 thought, would find himself in a more favourable 

 position for making geological surveys and reports. 

 A time-table for lectures was also permanently fixed. 



A mining engineer, competent to examine mines 

 and open collieries, was also to be appointed. He 

 was to have a knowledge of levelling and surveying, 

 and to be prepared to visit England and Scotland, to 

 bring over models of improved machinery. Richard 

 Griffith, jun., was appointed to that position in May 

 1 812, at a salary of £300 a year for three months 

 spent in actual survey under the Society, and three 

 months in preparing reports, maps, sections, &c, 

 and in delivering a course of lectures. .£500 was 

 allocated for mining purposes, which would leave 

 ^200 for contingent expenses. It was arranged that 

 he was to put himself in touch with proprietors 

 of mines and their agents in Ireland, so as to lay 

 the foundation of a minute mineralogical survey. 

 He was also to make himself master of the position 

 of the several coalfields and beds of coal, as well 

 as to describe machinery, and the plan of work- 

 ing mines, and to suggest improvements. He was 

 expected to furnish accurate maps, specifying objects 

 of mineralogical interest in the country, and explana- 

 tory sections of stratification, and was also to deliver 

 public courses of lectures on the geology of Ireland, 

 and the application of machinery to mines. As a 

 result of his appointment, Griffith was first invited to 



