Week by Week
McEnery. Like many caves it is full of stalactitic formations, and near the entrance on a boss of rock is carved the inscription, now covered by stalagmite, "Robert Hedges of Ireland, 1688,"...
...also by Dean Buckland, at that time the leading geologist in England and the author of the once well-known book, Reliquiae Diluvianae, though it is difficult to understand on what grounds...
...Buckland's book was founded on observations made in the Kirkland cave in Yorkshire, and in accordance with the ideas of the time he held that all these bones and other objects had been washed into the caves by the universal deluge...
...The inscription was there when the cave was rediscovered and many fallacious opinions as to the date of the other objects found in it were formed by those who were ignorant of the great variations in the rate of the deposit of stalagmite...
...Pengelly, a Cornish geologist who was a later explorer of the cave, in some way got hold of McEnery's manuscript account of his discovery, presumably intended as an introduction to his detailed observations...
...His observations were challenged by no less a person than Cuvier...
...Years afterwards, Mr...
...McENERY had nothing but his modest salary as chaplain...
...The treasure-trove unearthed by Father McEnery included immense quantities of the bones of extinct animals and implements both of bone and stone, the work of the prehistoric inhabitants of that part of what is now an island but was then probably part of the continent we call Europe...
...Pengelly's publication of these notes rescued the name of the obscure priest from oblivion...
...There were no societies in those days to publish scientific records, and as he could not afford to do so himself, his collection of specimens was sold at auction after his death in 1841, and his invaluable notes Of observation, probably regarded as of no use, either went to light the abbey fires, or disappeared in some other manner...
...Like many caves it is full of stalactitic formations, and near the entrance on a boss of rock is carved the inscription, now covered by stalagmite, "Robert Hedges of Ireland, 1688," which was in all probability cut by some Irish fugitive "on his keeping" from the myrmidons of Dutch William...
Vol. 3 • February 1926 • No. 13
