46 



The Irish Naturalist 



March, 



His teaching of these subjects was eminently sympathetic, 

 and his powers as a draughtsman made his delineations of 

 crystals fascinating even to the beginner. At one time, every 

 student who followed the associateship-course in the College 

 passed through his hands in the second year of the curriculum ; 

 and few can have forgotten the genuine interest imparted to 

 what many would have considered dead matter and a mere 

 appendage to their other studies. From 1881 to 1895, O'Reilly 

 also held the post of Secretary of the College, and the Depart- 

 ment of Science and Art found in him a most punctilious and 

 faithful officer. His personal manner always retained a cer- 

 tain foreign distinction, acquired during his early years in 

 France, and his courtesy never failed him, even when he felt 

 himself bound to pursue an official course in opposition to the 

 views of some one or other of his colleagues. A certain love 

 of detail, and a scrupulous regard for authority, made his 

 scientific work less critical and discerning than his personal 

 experience would have warranted ; and to the last his papers 

 were liable to be overburdened with the correlated statements 

 and views of others, which were always accurately acknow- 

 ledged. Any illustrations furnished by him show his admir- 

 able neatness as a draughtsman. During his later years, he 

 was engaged, Sunday after Sunday, in a minute examination 

 of the succession of strata on Bray Head in Co. Wicklow, and 

 he left behind him a number of exquisite coloured drawings 

 of the rock-face as visible along the path. His interest in the 

 Irish language and in archaeology brought him into touch with 

 a wide range of research. 



A year's illness in 1898-9 compelled O'Reilly to leave the 

 teaching of Mineralogy in the Royal College of Science in 

 other hands ; and the chair was united with that of Geology 

 on his compulsory retirement at the age of 70 in 1899. The 

 chair of Mining was at the same time abolished ; and the re- 

 ferences made by O'Reilly to the union of Mineralogy with 

 Geology, in a letter to the University Commission of 1902, 

 show, to say the least, a generous acceptance of new conditions. 



O'Reilly was elected a member of the Royal Irish Academy 

 in 1870, and was Secretary for Foreign Correspondence from 

 1879 to 1899, and from 1901 to 1904. During these periods he 

 served on the Council, and was one of the Vice-Presidents from 



