THE ROYAL DUBLIN SOCIETY 



239 



in German, Dutch, and French ; communications from 

 (as a rule) non-members, and of valuable papers by 

 the Society's professors. The contents included treatises 

 on cider making, brewing, road making, embankments, 

 planting and draining, on wheat, flax, the rearing of 

 sheep, &c. The library committee, which was asked 

 to report, gave the following reasons for thinking that 

 the publication of the Transactions had become un- 

 necessary. The literary institutions of the city had 

 now placed within the reach of all works from which 

 extracts were made in the Transactions. Foreign 

 languages were more studied in Ireland, and most of 

 the valuable works of recent foreign writers were trans- 

 lated and published in periodical journals. Authors 

 of original papers on agriculture and the practical arts 

 preferred weekly and monthly journals, so that the 

 Society had received a lesser supply of scientific com- 

 munications. The Royal Irish Academy at this time 

 found some difficulty in procuring materials for half 

 a volume yearly, and even papers in the Transactions 

 of the Royal Society of London had not increased in 

 number. Since the discontinuance of the Transactions, 

 many essays and larger treatises had been communicated 

 to the Society which were recorded either in the weekly 

 minutes, or published separately, under the Society's 

 sanction. As instances, might be mentioned Mr. Higgins 

 on the Atomic Theory ; Dr. Wade on Oaks, Salices, 

 and Grasses ; Griffith on the Leinster Coal District, &c. 

 The publication, too, of the surveys of Irish counties, 

 in utility and extent, well supplied the want of them. 



The office of registrar becoming vacant, Captain 

 Theodore Wilson, who had held the post of house- 

 keeper since 1808, was appointed to fill the united 

 offices, at a salary of ^200 a year. Mr. John Litton 

 was elected law agent. 



