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executed. The end is hollow, to admit a staff, by which the 
cross was carried, like the crosier of an archbishop. The 
height of the shaft is about two feet and a half, and the span 
of the arms about nineteen inches. 
Having made the foregoing observations, suggested by 
an actual inspection of the cross, Professor Mac Cullagh 
said that he would leave it to Mr. Petrie to give a more 
minute description of it, as well as to relate its history, how 
it was made at Clonmacnoise, and thence migrated to Cong, 
with many curious particulars which he had discovered 
respecting it by a comparison of existing documents. Mr. 
Petrie had been requested by the Academy to draw up a 
paper on the subject, (see p. 212) ; and it was to be hoped 
that he would soon comply with their desire. 
In presenting the cross to the Academy, Professor 
Mac Cullagh stated, that his motive for doing so was, by 
putting it in the possession of a public body, to save it from 
that shameful process of destruction to which every thing 
venerable in Ireland has been exposed for centuries, and to 
contribute, at the same time, to the formation of a national 
collection, the want of which, he had been told, was regarded 
by Sir Walter Scott as a disgrace to a country so abounding 
in valuable remains. He trusted the time was not far distant 
when that reproach would be no longer merited ; when the 
relics of antiquity, now scattered over the kingdom, would 
find their way to a place where they could be appreciated, 
studied, and preserved. He believed, indeed, that there 
already existed in the public mind a strong disposition in 
favour of such a plan; a disposition that only required to 
be awakened into action. For, no sooner had his intention 
with respect to the cross become known to a few friends, 
than a subscription was set on foot, to procure, for a similar 
purpose, the two magnificent torques found thirty years ago 
at Tara. These had travelled to England and back again, 
and they narrowly escaped being sent out of the country a 
