462 ADDRESS DELIVERED AT A MEETING 



conferred a similar reward ; and to this body were communicated 

 the first investigations of Dr. Andrews, upon the heat developed 

 in chemical combination, which have recently been honoured with 

 the Eoyal Medal. 



To remind you of the progress which Natural History has 

 made, and is yet likely to make in this country, I have only to 

 mention the names of Ball, of Thompson, of Mackay, and Harvey, 

 and Allman, whose contributions to the history of the Fauna and 

 the Flora of Ireland are too well known to need any comment here. 

 The researches of Dr. Harvey, indeed, have embraced a wider 

 range ; and his latest work, the Phycologia Brittanica, now in 

 course of publication, cannot fail to sustain his high character as a 

 descriptive botanist. As a member of the University, I rejoice to 

 be able to add that, of the distinguished Naturalists just mentioned, 

 four are now connected with her teaching ; and that a large portion 

 of the plan contemplated by her late head, with reference to the 

 advancement of those branches of science within her walls, has now 

 been realized. 



The contributions to the department of Polite Literature, which 

 in the early volumes of our Transactions occupied a large and con- 

 spicuous place, have, I regret to say, been of late years less numer- 

 ous. To whatever cause this may be ascribed, we are the more 

 indebted to such men as Dr. Wall, Dr. Hincks, and Dr. Kennedy 

 Bailie, who have enriched our volumes with the results of their 

 learning and their research. But it would not be difficult to name 

 others, fellow-countrymen and fellow-members, who are qualified to 

 share with them the honour and the toil. The latest communica- 

 tion that we have received in this department the paper by Dr. 

 Hincks upon Egyptian Hieroglyphics, the first part of which was 

 recently read promises to throw much light upon the deciphering 

 of these ancient and mysterious records, and, if the author be right 

 in his theory, to add considerably to the discoveries of Young and 

 Champollion. 



The study of Antiquities, on the other hand, and especially of 

 the Antiquities of Ireland, has never been, and, I hope, never 

 will be, out of fashion here. From the time of Molyneux, and of 

 the Dublin Philosophical Society, the earliest of the learned Socie- 

 ties in Ireland from which we can trace our descent, the pursuit of 

 Irish Antiquities has been a favourite one. Of the researches of 

 our living antiquaries, the most conspicuous, undoubtedly, is the 



