1884-1885.] 355 



ance as if whitewash had been poured into it. These clays, 

 varying somewhat in their character, have been found to 

 extend from Arboe Point on the west shore, inland, to near 

 Dungannon, where they are utilised for pottery and tile-mak- 

 ing. They present a broad fringe along the southern end of the 

 Lough, and reach as far up the eastern shore as Langford 

 Lodge; covering, in all, an area estimated at 180 square miles. 

 In various places they have been pierced to a depth of between 

 two and three hundred feet, without reaching their base. It will 

 therefore be seen, that, geologically speaking, the deposit is an 

 important one, and as scarce two authors assign these clays to the 

 same formation, it becomes a matter of deep interest to geolo- 

 gical students to examine every point of evidence tending to 

 throw light on the question. 



Fragments of Silicified Wood occur over this area in the 

 drift and soil. It has even been found as far north as Cole- 

 raine, and as far south as the Maze racecourse, where it occurred 

 in drift gravels.* Associated with these fragments are certain 

 nodules of ironstone, to which I have already referred, many 

 of which contain impressions of leaves and plants, and it is 

 important to note this connection between these two classes of 

 fossil. 



The Lough is well known to you all, and perhaps equally so 

 is the tradition of the petrifying powers attributed to its waters, 

 whereby wood is said to be turned into stone. 



By early writers on Ireland, whenever Lough Neagh is 

 referred to, this property is ascribed to its waters as one of the 

 greatest of wonders, and so the statement became almost uni- 

 versally known, and in those days — when science teachers were 

 not abroad — unhesitatingly believed in, and much of the early 

 notoriety of the lough is due to its supposed possession of this 

 remarkable virtue. As early as the ninth century a writer 

 speaks of it as follows : — " There is another lough that hardens 

 wood into stone. Men cleave the wood, and when they have 



* J. S. Gardiner on the Lower Eocene Plant Beds of the Basaltic Formation of 

 Ulster, 2J.G.S, February, 1885. 



