Geology and Geography. 379 



westward. Nor is there any thing surprising in the absence of 

 evidence of a movement in any one locality contrary to the ge- 

 neral direction, since the analogy of existing facts would render 

 such an occurrence improbable. In other parts of the island, 

 the varying directions of the ridges tend to shew a similar varia- 

 tion in the direction of the forces which produced them ; whilst 

 the great mass of the inland gravel points to a local origin, being 

 composed of pebbles of limestone. It is indeed to the great cen- 

 tral plain of Ireland that that observation should especially be 

 directed, as it affords sufficiently varied materials on its borders, 

 and admits of their free dispersion. It must not be imagined 

 that the streams of rivers are here supposed to be the dispersing 

 agent, but the great inequalities of the surface of the globe are 

 fairly believed to have afforded local modifications of the currents 

 sweeping over the surface, and that independent of their origin, 

 whether it be supposed to arise in one great convulsion, or in 

 various and successive local elevations and distributions ; and it 

 is also necessary to consider the dispositions of gravel and sand 

 alternating, as they often do, in regular arrangement, as very 

 different phenomena from those scattered blocks which often rest 

 on their surface. 



Mr Greenough mentioned the high gratification he had ex- 

 perienced in witnessing the completion of the geological map of 

 Ireland, a work which he had urged Mr Griffith to prepare 

 twenty years ago, and at the same time expressed his admiration 

 of the harmony and distinctness of the colouring. After many 

 experiments, Mr Greenough has arrived at the conclusion, that 

 it is impossible to arrange a series of colours adapted to all 

 countries. Mr Greenough then alluded particularly to Mr 

 Conybeare's paper on the connection of the rocks of Scotland 

 and Ireland, and stated his belief that the Morne mountains and 

 Criffel are nearly identical. 



2. Dr West read a paper on errors committed by authors, re- 

 garding the geography of some parts of Greenland. The chief 

 object of the memoir was to prove that Cape Farewell, a pro- 

 montory on the south coast of Greenland, so called by Davis in 

 1585, (vid. Gatonbe's Journal in ChurchhilPs Voyages, vol. vi.), 

 is not, as Egede, Crantz, and Giesecke state, on the island of 

 Germesok, but on another many leagues to the south-east of it ; 



