274 



whin dykes. In his professional pursuits he travelled much in the 

 counties of Antrim, Down, and Armagh. In every journey through 

 the country he noted all he saw of minerals, fossils, rocks, or plants, 

 and an excellent observer he was. Every scientific stranger visiting 

 Belfast was made freely welcome to the use of his notes and his 

 knowledge, which he seemed to have a delight in communicating. He 

 was intimate with Hamilton, and Richardson, Trail, Allan, and 

 Dubourdieu, each of whom added his mite to the geological knowledge 

 of that period. When Berger and Conybeare, and Bnckland and 

 Griffith came the way, he was always ready and willing to direct their 

 steps to where there was any fact in his vicinity worthy of being seen, 

 and he knew all the localities of interest in the country. He thus, by 

 bringing many intellects to bear upon those facts, did more good to the 

 geology of the North of Ireland than any man of his day, though his 

 own name does not figure in the scientific literature of that time. He 

 was one of the most amiable, liberal, and benevolent of men. His 

 memory will be cherished during life by all who were acquainted with 

 him. 



The chalk in Balmer's Glen, like that at Moira, is not covered over 

 by trap, but about five chains to the west of it there must be a wide vent 

 to send out such a heap as there is, 60 or 80 feet in thickness, over the 

 chalk. The basalt here presents a perpendicular face, about five yards 

 high ; it is very hard, and is broken for the roads, and an excellent road 

 material it is, making a strong contrast to the basalt in other places, 

 which is not good for roads. 



3. Aughnahough, four miles north-east of No. 2, or three miles 

 north-west of Lisburn. At this place the chalk has been worked ex- 

 tensively heretofore, but apparently at very great expense, and with very 

 little judgment. The openings were made near the top, close under the 

 basalt, and to the west of the road from Lisburn to Glenavy vast heaps 

 of quarried trap were wheeled away, to get a little limestone. In one 

 place 30 feet of basalt have been removed, and 10 or 12 feet of limestone 

 got out from under it. If the quarry had been opened at the base of 

 the chalk, which is there 70 or 80 feet thick, a vast deal of limestone 

 could have been got, without removing any basaltic cover, for scores of 

 years, and all the excavation would be profitable as limestone. ~No 

 limestone is raised at this place now. Here a layer of basalt lies over 

 the chalk, about 10 feet thick, and over this another layer of the same 

 thickness. The layers are irregular. This basalt is of the kind called 

 " Wacke ;" it is very soft, and of a brownish-black colour; it decom- 

 poses on exposure to the weather, like some coal shales, which it very 

 much resembles in aspect, with the exception that it has no stratifi- 

 cation. Over this soft stuff, which ranges in the face of the hill, at 

 both sides of the road, over the chalk, as just stated, from 15 to 30 feet 

 in thickness, is a layer of hard basalt, which is tumbled down from the 

 top of the quarry, and oroken for the roads — indeed it is carried down 

 to the neighbourhood of Lisburn, two or three miles, for that purpose, 

 and forms the finest road metal found anywhere. It is curious to 



