573 



this institution of science and learning, and it is happily not 

 necessary that I should attempt it ; but, as one who had the 

 happiness to have been honoured for many years with his inti- 

 macy, or, as I may say, his most affectionate regard, it will not, 

 I trust, be deemed presumptuous if I allude and endeavour to 

 do justice to those peculiar features of his mind which led him 

 to present this valuable raonumentof antiquity to our Academy, 

 and the possession of which obtained for him the affections of 

 many who might otherwise have only reverenced him for his 

 acquirements and genius. I allude especially to that large 

 capacity of mind which enabled and led him to place a just 

 value upon knowledge of every kind, however foreign to his 

 own immediate studies and pursuits, and that characteristic 

 feature of a noble human heart, an ardent love of country, 

 generating an impassioned zeal for its advancement and wel- 

 fare : I repeat that it was to the existence of such qualities in 

 Dr. M'Cullagh that the Academy owes their acquisition of 

 this historical memorial, a memorial in the possession of which 

 any civilized community might well feel proud. 



" But, to understand and appreciate the value of this gift 

 to the Academy, it will be necessary to offer a few words on the 

 origin and formation of the museum of which it is the most 

 valuable and interesting feature. 



" When 1 had the honour to be elected a member of this, 

 the highest intellectual institution of Ireland, I found it, as 1 

 may well say, without a library and without a museum, with- 

 out both of which, according to ray young thoughts, such an 

 institution was very imperfect ; and with, perhaps, something 

 of the rashness of youth, and particularly on my becoming a 

 member of the Council, I applied my mind to the effecting of 

 objects which appeared to me so desirable. At this time the 

 books of the Academy, which were preserved in a room at the 

 top of the house, in addition to three valuable Irish MSS., 

 consisted almost exclusively of a collection of old mineralo- 

 gical works, which had been bequeathed to the Academy by 



