336 



growing without disturbance. Although the complete verification of 

 this phenomenon in dry weather requires patience and attention, it 

 cannot be attended with difficulty after heavy rains. The so-called bi- 

 furcations of large rivers, often referred to in the writings of geographers, 

 are entirely different in character ; being, in fact, rather Siamese twin 

 junctions by intermediate channels; while this, though on a very small 

 scale, is an instance of a true bifurcation, and appears to be of com- 

 paratively rare occurrence in a permanent form.* 



XXXV On the Discovery of three Earthen Vases at Palmers- 

 town, County of Dublin, one of which contained Human Re- 

 mains, Fragments of Shell, and Dog Bones. By Dr. W. Frazer, 

 M. R. I. A., Hon. Member Montreal Medico -Chirurgical Society, &c. 



[Read June 22, 1868.] 



Portions of three earthen vases were recently obtained at Palmerstown, 

 county of Dublin, all of them unfortunately broken into pieces by the 

 rude treatment they got when found by the labourers. One of these 

 urns, of small size, presents little of interest. The second, in which 

 human bones were discovered, was of unusual bulk, its mouth measur- 

 ing eleven inches in diameter ; its peculiar style of ornamentation is 

 also deserving of remark. Around the third vase, the mouth of 

 which was about seven inches in diameter, was built a carefully 

 constructed kist of flags ; it contained portions of the bones of a human 

 being, two fragments of shell, and also some dog bones ; a strange as- 

 semblage that remind us of the " Kitchen Middens" of Denmark, and of 

 our own shores, in which human remains are found mixed with shells, 

 and occasionally also the bones of man's faithful companion in the chase, 

 his dog. Unlike, however, to these " Kitchen ^Middens," no weapons were 

 discovered in or near the locality where these vases were procured. 



A pit or quarry, marked on the Ordnance Maps, has been long 

 worked for raising boulder stones for paving and macadamizing pur- 

 poses immediately beyond the village of Palmerstown, and within a 

 short distance of the River LifFey ; it is excavated in the alluvial drift, 

 and its open banks present good views of that deposit, which through- 

 out the district covers over the stratified rocks, the mass of rolled stones 

 imbedded in tenacious clay rising within a foot or eighteen inches of the 

 soil. This pit is situated in a rich grass field that slopes down to the 

 river. Early in June, 1868, when the workmen were excavating the 

 western side of the quarry, which is about ten feet deep, a fall of the 



* Some of the discussions in the " Athenaeum," referred to in note, p. 335, relate to the 

 phenomena of lakes with two outlets. It now seems that Lough Derg (Donegal) may 

 be included among such lakes, for in addition to its principal outlet, which flows towards 

 the north into the Atlantic, there is a second smaller outlet, which discharges itself south- 

 wards into Lough Erne. 



