120 



" The newspapers report the occurrence of the storm, as 

 mentioned above; but say nothing of the tide. 



" The course of the storm seems to have been from 

 south to north; but I think a north-east wind was blow- 

 ing-" 



A communication by Francis Crawford, Esq., A.B., 

 " On the Utility of the Irish Language in Classical Studies," 

 was read. 



The object of the writer was to show, that, notwith- 

 standing the contempt and ridicule into which the subject 

 had fallen in consequence of the rash and unphilosophic 

 views of injudicious advocates, still there existed reasonable 

 grounds for believing that a careful and sober analysis of 

 Heathen mythological names would resolve them into Celtic 

 elements through the medium of I/is/i ; accordingly he pro- 

 ceeded to give numerous instances of such analysis, at the 

 same time declaring, that unless supported by such analogies, 

 or other external evidence, as he offered, investigations of 

 this sort were by no means to be relied upon. 



After interpreting, in this manner, the names of some of 

 the Syrian deities mentioned by Selden, in his learned 

 work " De Dis Syris," the writer went on to set the whole 

 subject in a more interesting point of view, by attempting 

 to show, that even the Bible might receive illustration and 

 confirmation from such inquiries ; to effect this, he under- 

 took to identify the Melchizedek of Scripture with the famous 

 Tyrian Hercules ; he shewed at some length, that they 

 were contemporaries in history, that they agreed in cha- 

 racter, that tithes were paid to both, and finally that the 

 name of Malcarth, by which the Tyrian Hercules was best 

 known, when resolved into its Celtic components IDal-ceapc, 

 literally signified "Righteous King," or "^ King of Righ- 

 teousness."' 



The writer, after some further proofs of their identity, 



