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COMMUNICATIONS. xii 
Communications to the General Evening Meetings. 
On Monday evening Professor Traill read his Address. 
On Wednesday evening Mr. W. Snow Harris delivered a 
Lecture, illustrated by experiments on a large scale, on the 
application of Lightning Conductors to Ships. : 
On Friday evening Reports were received from the Presi- 
dents of Sections of the communications which had been read 
during the week. 
On Saturday evening, besides the official business, the Pre- 
dent noticed the gift, by Dr. Manni, of Rome, of a Colossal 
Bust of Mzcenas, as a mark of respect for the objects of the 
British Association. This magnificent Bust was forwarded 
for presentation to Dr. Bryce, of Liverpool, who has given 
the following account of the circumstances which render this 
Bust interesting to the public :— 
“ Tt was long a cause of wonder and regret, that no gem, medal, or 
statue of a man so illustrious had ever been discovered. At length, 
the Duke of Orleans, Regent of France, early in the last century, by a 
happy conjecture, fixed on one of the gems in his collection, an ame- 
thyst of small size, marked with the name of the engraver, Dioscorides, 
as being the representation of the head of Mezcenas. Another gem, 
bearing the name of Solon, the engraver, evidently representing the 
same person, was afterwards found in the Farnesian Museum; and a 
third of the same, a sardonyx, also engraved by Solon, has since been 
discovered in the collection of the Prince Ludovisi. The features 
given in these gems agree so well with all that has been handed down 
in the Roman Classics concerning the personal appearance and habits 
of Mzcenas, that the suggestion of the Duke of Orleans has been 
adopted by all subsequent antiquaries. A few years after the recogni- 
tion of the head of Mzcenas on the gems of Dioscorides and Solon, 
both artists coeval with Augustus, an antique fresco painting was dis- 
‘covered in the ruins of the palace of the Czsars on the Palatine Hill 
at Rome. This painting represents Augustus surrounded by his 
courtiers, conferring a crown on the Persian King Phraates, an event 
spoken of by Horace. In the front rank of the courtiers stands one, 
_ evidently the Prime Minister, in the act of speaking, whose features 
strongly resemble those on the gems of Mecenas above described. 
Next to him is Agrippa, who is readily recognized from medals, coins, 
and statues of him. Horace also is found in the group. A copy of 
_ this painting was bought by Dr. Mead, and brought to England by 
him; and an engraving of it may be seen in Turnbull’s Essay on 
Ancient Painting. 
“« This was the extent of antiquarian research and acquisition con- 
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