was marred by an implicit belief in the universal deluge, and through finding fossils associated with the trap rocks near Portrush he maintained basalt was of aqueous origin. Kirwan was one of the last supporters in Britain and Ireland of the theory of phlogiston, for which he contended in his Essay on Phlogiston and the Constitution of Acids (1787), identifying phlogiston with hydrogen. This work, translated by Marie-Anne Pierette Paulze, was published in French with critical notes by Lavoisier and some of his associates; Kirwan attempted to refute their arguments, but they proved too strong for him, and he acknowledged himself a convert in 1791. There is evidence to suggest that Kirwan was a member of the Society of the United Irishmen, a revolutionary republican organisation in 18th century Ireland. The United Irishmen were founded as a reformist club by a group of Irish radical Protestants and Presbyterians in 1791, influenced by the American and French revolutions. Gradually becoming more militant; the Society advocated for Catholic emancipation, and the overthrow in Ireland of British rule. This movement culminated in the defeat of the United Irishmen in the 1798 Rebellion and the Act of Union. At the time of the Union, Kirwan refused a baronetcy and died in Dublin in June 1812, and was buried there in St. George's Church, Lower Temple Street. Eccentricities Various stories are told of Kirwan's eccentricities as well as of his conversational powers. It is said that flies "were his especial aversion; he kept a pet eagle, and was attended by six large dogs." Kirwan disliked flies and paid his servants for each time they were killed. He also disliked late visitors and had his door-knocker removed each evening at seven o'clock. Kirwan suffered from dysphagia and always dined alone. He lived on an exclusive diet of ham and milk. The ham was cooked on Sunday and reheated for the rest of the week. Kirwan was obsessed with avoiding a cold. He heated his living room all year round with a fire and always wore an overcoat indoors. Honours and activities Fellow of the Royal Society (1780) Copley Medal (1782) Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1789) Royal Irish Academy (1799–1812) – President Wernerian Natural History Society of Edinburgh (1808) – honorary founding member Books Elements of Mineralogy (1784) Essay on Phlogiston and the Constitution of Acids (1787) An Estimate of