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XXVIII.— ON THE EXISTING EECOBDS AS TO THE DIS- 

 COVEEY OF A DIAMOND IN IEELAND IN THE 

 YEAE 1816. By V. BALL, M.A., F.E.S., Director of 

 the Science and Art Museum, Dublin. 



[Read, April 16, 18S3.] 



[From the above given date it -will be seen that nearly four years have elapsed 

 since this Paper was read. The delay in its publication has been due to the fact 

 that I was desirous of obtaining some further information on the subject, and, if 

 possible, of availing myself of some opportunity for making a personal examination of 

 the locality where the discovery is stated to have been made. Although up to the 

 present I have not obtained any additional information, and have been unable to mahe 

 the projected examination, I have been led to delay the publication no longer, as it may 

 direct attention to the subject, and so lead to the required information being acquired. 

 Moreover, inquiries have been recently addressed to me as to what the facts of the case 

 really are. Imperfect, and it must be said inconclusive, as they appear to be, they 

 ■are, therefore, now recorded for future reference.] 



For some time I have been engaged in the collection of ma- 

 terials for a general correlation of the diamond-bearing deposits 

 throughout the world, and have already amassed a considerable 

 amount of information on the subject. Regarding some localities, 

 however, the accounts are geologically defective, and I must defer 

 for the present attempting to draw up a general statement of the 

 facts. In the meantime, however, I would direct attention to a 

 record of the discovery of a diamond in Ireland, as the subject is 

 likely to prove of special interest here. 



In Karl Hitter's Erdkunde Aden (vol. vi., published in 1836) 

 ■I first met with the statement that a diamond had been dis- 

 covered in Ireland. Subsequently I found it repeated by several 

 different writers, and quite recently I have been enabled to con- 

 sult John Murray's work on diamonds, which was published in 

 1831, where the fact appears to have been first recorded. The 

 passage is as follows : l — " A diamond has also been found in Ire- 

 land, in the bed of a brook flowing through the district of Fer- 

 managh. It possesses a red tint, and was brought to a lady 



1 Murray, On the Diamond, p. 30. London, 1831. 





