SxrDDERT AXD Pluxkett — 0)1 Wtttcrs of Lisdoonvarna. 189 



XXYIII. — Ok the Constittje:n"ts of the t^vo PErNcrpixMrN'EEAi Watees 



OF LlSDOOyTAP.XA, CoryTT OF CxAEE. By La^TCELOT SxrDDEET, LL. D., 



. Ex-Sch., T. C. D., and "\\^iLLiAir Tl-ckkett, F. C. S. 



[Eead May 24, 1875.] 



Befoee proceeding to Lisdoonvama tlie aiitliors procured, in July last, 

 a jar of the principal sulphur water of the place, which was carefully 

 collected from the Gowlaun "W^ell, through the kind aid of Dr. Cullinan, 

 of Ennis ; of this a preliminary examination was then made at the la- 

 boratory of the Royal College of Science, Stephen' s-green, Dublin. 



In August they visited Lisdoonyama, in order to detennine at the 

 springs the sulphiu'etted hydi'ogen that might hare escaped, and the 

 ii'on that might haye become peroxiclised before reaching Dublin ; and 

 also for the prrrpose of procuring a large supply of the waters, to de- 

 termine their more stable constituents. This leng-thened inyestigation 

 the authors were kindly pennitted by Professor Gralloway to conduct 

 in that laboratory, with all appliances ayailable. 



Eemaining at Lisdoonyama until the 5th of September, they re- 

 peatedly estimated at the well itself the sulphuretted, hydi-ogen in the 

 Growlaun Spring, and in a secondary one, near the east end of the 

 parish chru'ch. They also determined the iron present as protoxide in 

 a piincipal, and also in a secondary, chalybeate well, both situated in 

 an enclosure at Eathbawn Bridge, nearer to the town of Lisdoon- 

 yama. 



It may be. right, perhaps, to remark that there are no interments 

 in the churchyard ; that spring there issues from the cliff-side, and is 

 one of a pair of spas, sulphur and ii'on, in one recess, and nearly join- 

 ing at their mouths, thence called the " Twin Spas." The iron one 

 was not flowing in September last ; and neither of these seems to haye 

 been sent for analysis to Professor Ap John in 1856. There was indeed 

 another chalybeate water sent then to the laboratory of that eminent 

 chemist from the '' Spectacle Bridge " Spa, still farther from Lisdoon- 

 yama town ; but the well is now closed by cattle tracks, and is re- 

 ported by a writer (Dr. Faussett) to haye been disused in 1867. 



The temperature (which is said to be equable) of the two sulphur 

 and two iron spas so examined by the authors was ascertained as com- 

 pared with that of the atmosphere ; also the rate of flow of the " Twin 

 Sulphur Spiing ;" but the underground position of the springs at Gow- 

 laun and Ptathbawn preyented their rate of flow being determined. 

 However, notwithstanding their many drinkers, the level of these two 

 principal wells is said to be rather constant. 



It should be noted that duiing this visit, and for some days before, 

 the weather was wet. The rain seemed to dilute the spas; for even the 

 drinkers remarked them weaker in taste. The explanations to accom- 

 pany Sheets 114, 122, and 123 of the maps of the Geological Siuwey 



