432 Obituary— R. G. Symcs, M.A. 



many years to the Clayworker, and published in 1897 a work on 

 " The Science of Brickniakiiig." While largely engaged on 

 economic questions he carried on investigations into the structure of 

 oolitic freestones (1895), and found time likewise to write 

 occasional papers on Eocene and Oligoceue MoUusca in conjunction 

 witij his friend Mr. R. Bullen Newton. 



RICHARD GLASCOTT SYMES, M-A. 



Born May 8, 1840. Died July 27, 1906. 



Son of Glascott Symes, M.D., a leading physician of Kingstown, 

 in the county of Dul)lin, li. G. Symes was born in that town, 

 graduated as Master of Arts and Licentiate of Engineering in 

 Trinity College, Dublin, qualifying for the Mechanical Section of 

 his degree at the Inchicore works of the Great Southern and 

 Western Railway. 



Having become interested in geology, he joined the Geological 

 Survey of Ireland as Assistant Geologist under Jukes in 1863. In 

 the course of his work he entirely surveyed six of the one-inch maps 

 and portions of seventeen in conjunction with other members of the 

 staff. Though his earliest work was carried out over forty years 

 ago, his lines as then drawn remain unaltered, though some of the 

 districts he completed, such as that of Lough Conn in Sheet 64, 

 were of a very complicated nature. His latest Irish work was in 

 county Antrim, which he was detailed to examine on account of his 

 practical knowledge of the coal and iron deposits. It is especially 

 satistactory to note that recent exploration of the Ballycastle Coal- 

 field has entirely justified the indications of his map and six-inch 

 section. In 1869 Symes was promoted to the rank of Geologist. 

 In 1874 he was one of the Secretaiif^s of Section C at the Meeting 

 of the British Association in Belfast, and in 1878 one of the 

 Secretaries of Section G (Mechanical Science) at the Meeting in 

 Dublin. His descriptive memoirs of the Irish areas he surveyed 

 were interesting and clear, and his mapping and draughtsmanship 

 of more than ordinary merit. 



Upon the completion of the one-inch Geological Map of Ireland in 

 1890 he was transferred to the Scottish branch of the Survey, 

 where he surveyed considerable portions of Kintyre and tlie 

 neiglibouiliood of Oban in the Argyll district. 



He was an ardent sportsman and keen observer of the fauna of 

 the districts in which he was successively engaged, and there were 

 few better practical authorities upon the birds and fishes of Ireland. 



Injuries sustained by a car accident whilst engaged some years 

 ago in surveying the country near Cainpbelton, N.B., shattered 

 a previously robust frame. He retired from the public service in 

 1900, and settled in Monkstown. near Dublin, where he died on the 

 27th of July, after a short illness. R. C. 



