598 Royal Irish Academy. 



an autograph MS. by him, entitled ' A Prognosticall Almanack for 

 this Bissextile yere, 1612, composed with a three fould Kallender 

 generally calculated for this Kingdom of Ireland, and will also serve 

 very well for aUe the Northe and Northweste partes of England,' 

 William Bourne also, who flourished at the same time, and greatly 

 distinguished himself by his mechanical inventions, was a native of 

 Ireland. To these two we may add Nathaniel Caqjenter, an Eng- 

 lishman by birth, but who resided in Dublin early in the seventeenth 

 centur)-, and left behind him treatises on geography and optics. A 

 copy of this latter work is still presented in MS. in the Library of 

 University College, Oxfoi'd*. 



" With Molyneux, in more recent times, the science of Ireland 

 rose to a level with that of surrounding nations, and the names 

 Ponce, Boyle, Petty, and Ashef, sers'e to fill the complement of the 

 seventeenth century. In January 1684, Molyneux suceeded in form- 

 ing a Philosophical Society at Dublin, on the plan of the Royal 

 Society of Loudon. The first meeting of the Society took place on the 

 2Sth of January 1684, when Sir William Petty was chosen Presi- 

 dent, Dr. Charles Willoughby Director, and Molyneux undertook 

 the combined offices of Secretary and Treasurer. November 1st, 

 All Saints' day, was chosen for the anniversary of the Society. On 

 the 1st of November, 1684, Sir William Petty was re-elected Presi- 

 dent, Molyneux as Secretar)^ and WUliam Pleydell, Esq., Treasurer. 

 On the 2nd of November, 1685, Lord Viscount Mountjoy was elect- 

 ed President, George Toilet, Esq., Treasurer, and St. George Ashe 

 Secretar)^ In this year Molyneux retired from actual office, but 

 retained his place on the Council of the Society. On the 1st of 

 November, 1686, Lord Viscount Mountjoy was re-elected President, 

 George Toilet, Esq., Treasurer, and Edward Smyth, Secretary. 



" The preceding particulars are taken from the original Minute- 

 book of the Society preserved in the British Museum, MS. Addit. 

 4811 %. The last entry in this book is the account of the Genera] 

 Meeting of 1686, and this would lead us to suppose that the Societj' 

 was dissolved at this period, although Dr. Hutton assures us, that it 

 was not broken up till 1688§. 



"From MS. Addit. 4812, it appears that in the year 1707, an 

 attempt was made to re-establish the Society, but its success was not 

 of any long duration, and this MS. contains a register of the philo- 

 sophical papers read before the Society, from August 1.5th, 1707, to 

 March 11th, 1708. The Earl of Pembroke, then Lord Lieutenant of 

 Ireland, presided over the Society at this revival. 



" In 1686, Molyneux printed at Dubhn his Sciothericum Telesco- 

 pium, containing a description of the structure and use of a telescopic 

 dial invented by him. In the British Museum is preser\'ed the au- 

 thor's own copy of this volume, enriched with numerous MS. notes 



* Under the press mark L. 14. See Bernard's Catalogue, 1697, p. 5. 



t Archbishi;p Usher was the author of some treatises on sciences and 

 their history, more especially astronomy. 



X The same volume likewise contains copies of numerous letters and pa- 

 pers on scientific subjects, addressed for the most part to Molyneux. 



§ Mathematical Dictionary, vol. ii. p. 117. 



