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XII.— ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS TO THE ROYAL GEO- 

 LOGICAL SOCIETY OF IRELAND, by G. H. KINAHAN, 

 M.R.i.A. President. 



[Read, February 21st, 1881.] 



Before proceeding with the special subject to which I wish to 

 call your attention at this, our Anniversary Meeting, I have to 

 record the departure from amongst us of two Ex-Presidents of 

 our Society. 



Charles William Hamilton, m.r.i.a., f.g.s., died on February 16, 

 1880, the very day of our last annual meeting, at an advanced age. 

 He was one of the original members of our Society, and sometime 

 Secretary, and also President thereof in 1845 and 1846. He was 

 an energetic and well-known field -worker in our Science, at a 

 time when there was no published Geological Map of Ireland to 

 assist the explorer, and has contributed numerous papers to our 

 "Journal." He took an active part in discussions respecting 

 certain formations whose relations were of necessity imperfectly 

 understood, before the extensive induction of facts, which we now 

 owe to the Geological Survey had been made. If he was, as we must 

 believe, unquestionably mistaken as to the age of the rocks forming 

 the mountains between MacGillicuddy's Reeks and Kenmare, we 

 must remember that Sir Richard Grifiith and Mr. Jukes, who both 

 disagreed with him, likewise disagreed with each other on the 

 same point ; and the question cannot be said to be definitively 

 settled even yet. On the other hand, we must not forget to 

 mention that it was Mr. Hamilton who first pointed out to Sir 

 Richard Grifiith, in 183G (see Phil. Mag., Dec. 183.9, p. 444), that 

 the roofing slates at Ringabella Bay, south-eastward of the city of 

 Cork, were really newer than the Old Red Sandstone strata to 

 the north of them. These, from their very ancient appearance 

 combined with the concealment of their junctions with the 0. R. S., 

 had been regarded by several eminent geologists as belonging to 

 the "Older Transition" formation, or in modern language as being 

 either Lower Silurian or Cambrian. Mr. Hamilton's bold innova- 



SciEN. Pkoc, R.D.S. Vol. nt., Pt. iit. K 



