GRIFFITH, SIR RICHARD JOHN Irish geologist, was born in Dublin on Sept. 20, 1784. In 1809 he was appointed by the Irish commissioners to inquire into the nature and extent of the bogs in Ireland, and the means of improving them. In 1812 he was elected professor of geology and mining engineer to the Royal Dublin Society. He made a geological map of Ireland, and in 1825 executed the boundary survey of Ireland, the object of which was to ascertain and mark the boundaries of every county, barony, parish and townland in preparation for the ordnance survey. This work was finished in 1844. He was also called upon to assist in preparing a bill for the general valuation of Ireland; the act was passed in 1826, and Griffith acted as com missioner of valuation, 1868. On "Griffith's valuation" the local and public assessments were made. New and improved editions of his geological map were published in 1835, 1839 and 1855. For this great work and his other services to science he was awarded the Wollaston medal by the Geological Society in 1854. In 185o he was made chairman of the Irish Board of Works, and in 1858 he was created a baronet. He died in Dublin on Sept. 22, 1878.
Among his many geological works the following may be mentioned: Outline of the Geology of Ireland (1838) ; Notice respecting the Fossils of the Mountain Limestone of Ireland, as compared with those of Great Britain, and also with the Devonian System (1842) . See memoirs in Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. xxxv. 39; and Geol. Mag., 1878, P. 524, with bibliography.