24 Report of Meetings for 1890. By Dr J. Hardy. 



from whence it flowed southward, covering up what is now the 

 German Ocean, and sweeping part of the British coast-line. But 

 at the same time all the Scottish and Enjjlish mountains of a 

 certain altitude formed centres of dispersion from whence the 

 glaciers radiated — on the west to the Atlantic, on the east to 

 where they joined with the overmastering Scandinavian current, 

 and turned southward as far as the north bank of the Thames. 

 On the motion of Mr Alderman Adam Robertson a vote of thanks 

 to Mr Tait for his notes was carried by acclamation. Thus far 

 our reporter for the press. 



Here the company was formed into two sections, one to follow 

 Mr Tait, the other to proceed leisurely and occupy themselves 

 with botanising. Mr Tait said there were several broken mill- 

 stones on the hills, owing to accidents when carting them off. 

 Several excavations appeared which some attributed to the iron- 

 workers of an undetermined past age, some of whose slag-heaps 

 were still visible at various points, chiefly near the outlet of 

 little streamlets running in boggy depressions originating in the 

 hills, near where they entered Kemmer Lough. He had not 

 been able to trace charcoal in these heaps, but this has been 

 observed by others. His opinion was that iron-nodules had 

 been gathered on the hills and conveyed to these bloomeries. 

 He himself had picked up on the hills a very heavy iron-nodule 

 of the Carboniferous period. Some of the excavations referred 

 to, looked rather like abortive attempts to reach coal, which 

 people may have expected to find on them as well as on the 

 Shipley side. At Blawweary, Mr Tait on a smelting site had 

 found the handle of a pot of very rough ware among the slag, 

 and at another slag depot a supposed smelting pot of ware, red 

 on the exterior, but blackened on the inside. Kemmer Lough 

 has stood at various levels, two old margins can still be distin- 

 guished on ttie environing swampy flat. Now reduced to 9 or 10, 

 its area at one period may have extended to 80 acres. It 

 contains Pike. Once it was a great resort of migratory wild- 

 fowl, and a platform with an intervening passage communicating 

 with the shore, had been erected for the convenience of shooting. 

 The draining of it, while it has enabled the surrounding level 

 ground to be cultivated, has thinned the wild-fowl, and reduced 

 the sportsman's chances to a minimum. Mr Tait stated that on 

 one occasion he discovered traces of a crannoge or lake-dwelling 

 on level ground within the older outer margin of the Lough. 



