O'Eeilly — On the Waste of the Coast of Ireland^ 8fc. 113 



existed dui'ing a certain time, and had not finally been worn away and 

 submerged in the Atlantic before the dawn of Irish traditional histoiy. 

 Thus we see room for the tradition of the Island of Brazil (with 

 reference to which a very interesting paper was published in the 

 Eoyal Dublin Society's Proceedings, N. S., ii. 1880, p. 173) and for 

 a Eockall far more prominent and extended than the present island, 

 which now can hardly be approached, so bold and precipitous are its 

 coasts. 



As to the probable existence of other islands in the North Atlantic, 

 we can only arrive at a conclusion relative thereto by the aid of a 

 bathymetric chart of that ocean (that is, a chart coloiu'ed according to 

 the relative depths by means of contoiu' lines of equal depth), and 

 keeping in mind the remarkable conclusions arrived at, in Dr. Reusch's 

 article already cited. 



As regards the coast of Ireland in general, and the changes they 

 have undergone during past ages, the only data that can at present be 

 availed of, are the records of the various Geological Surveys made of 

 them, and of the parts of the coasts of Great Britain which are as 

 fully exposed to the action of the Atlantic waves and storms as are the 

 Irish coasts, as well as of the adjacent island groups, the Hebrides, 

 the Faroe, Orkneys, and Shetland groups. Certain descriptions of the 

 maritime counties both in Ireland and in Great Britain also furnish 

 observations and have been availed of. These records have up to the 

 present not been brought together and presented in a collected form, 

 and in the present paper it is proposed to so present them as a basis for 

 a more complete recension of all the data bearing on the question of 

 the wear of the Irish coasts. As in regard to many parts of the Irish 

 coast, the data are meagre, if not entirely wanting, while for much of 

 the coasts of Scotland, "Wales, and England such data are available in 

 greater or less sufficiency, it has seemed reasonable to employ these 

 data when concerning parts of the coasts which are directly exposed to 

 the Atlantic Ocean ; since it is evident that whatever has been the 

 destructive action of the waves and storms upon these, it cannot be 

 supposed to have been less on those parts of the coasts of Ireland 

 which are more directly and more immediately exposed to the f uU 

 action of the Western Ocean storms. Hence the indications existing 

 as regards the wear on the Scotch and Cornish coasts can to a certain 

 extent make up for the meagreness or absence of details as regards 

 the western, north-western, and south-western coasts of Ireland. 



Sir Charles Lyell's " Principles of Geology" (1872) supply some 

 very valuable information in these respects, offering excellent terms of 



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