224 
Dr. Graves pointed out the importance of having the an- 
tiquity of these Irish Canons established in so conclusive a 
manner, and adduced instances to show that they illustrated 
the early civil history of Ireland. Though professedly a col- 
lection of Ecclesiastical Canons, they contain amongst them 
several laws that are purely ofa civil character, and many 
allusions to the existing state of society. In the ancient 
Brehon Laws, still extant in the Irish language, the very 
same institutions are to be found, forming parts of a system 
which is altogether similar and coherent. Thus the indepen- 
dent testimony of the Canons, whose age is now fully ascer- 
tained, demonstrates the genuineness and antiquity of our 
Brehon Laws. 
Francis M. Jennings, Esq., presented a lithograph repre- 
senting the great Cork Tree now growing at Summertown, 
near Cork, and described by J. C. Loudon, in the “ Arbore- 
tum et Fruticum Britannicum,” vol. ii. pl. 1916. 
