99 



i$th February, 1881, 



Mr. R. Young, Vice-President, in the Chair. 



Mr. Robert Young, C.E., read a Paper entitled 



REMARKS ON HOW IDEAS OF HEIGHT ARE 

 FORMED. 



The attention of the writer was drawn to the importance of 

 this subject by a singular experience he had lately, when visiting 

 the coast of Clare. 



When a young man, with a strong relish for the wilder aspects 

 of nature, he had the good fortune to be located for a considerable 

 time in the vicinity of Ballycastle, and during his leisure had 

 ample opportunities of examining and sketching the bold head- 

 lands and sea cliffs from Benmore on one side to Pleaskin on 

 the other. Some years afterwards he had the opportunity of 

 carefully studying the rest of the grand coast line of Antrim 

 from Cushendun to Larne, and making drawings of the most 

 picturesque points ; so that these familiar Antrim cliffs became 

 the standards to which he naturally referred any cliffs or preci- 

 pices he met with in other places. Of late years, on several 

 journeys both in England and Scotland, and in the Continent, 

 he had been struck with the singular tameness of cliffs which 

 he found exceeded those on our coast in height, but failed to 

 impress the mind as forcibly. It was not, however, till lately 

 that the full explanation of this curious phenomenon occurred 

 to him. 



In making a tour, last August, through Clare and Kerry, he 

 had turned aside to visit the famed cliffs of Moher, about the 



