THE ROYAL DUBLIN SOCIETY 363 



fessor M. H. Harvey read papers on recently discovered 

 plants new to Ireland, and on various substances used 

 in the manufacture of paper. There are communica- 

 tions on Arctic fossils by Professor Scouler, Mr. Jukes 

 and Professor Samuel Haughton ; and botanical notes 

 by Mr. David Moore and Mr. Isaac Weld. The 

 registering barometer described by Mr. George Yeates 

 in 1 85 1 was evidently the precursor of the automatic 

 mercurial barograph constructed by Messrs. Yeates & 

 Son, which has been in the hall of Leinster House for 

 many years. Mr. W. K. Sullivan read a paper on the 

 amount of sugar in Irish-grown roots. This is now of 

 interest, as it shows that sixty-four years ago the fact 

 was established (to use the author's words) — " that 

 the climate of Ireland is remarkably adapted for the 

 growth of bulbous roots of a superior quality, whether 

 for the manufacture of sugar or for feeding purposes." 

 There is another paper by Mr. Sullivan and M. 

 Alphonse Gages on the comparative value of large and 

 small roots, one of the conclusions arrived at being — 

 " that the system of encouraging the growth of monster 

 roots which has hitherto prevailed, and of which we 

 have such examples at the Society's Show, is erroneous." 

 Notwithstanding this exposure, and the fact that no 

 farmer would dream of growing such roots for profit, 

 the system still survives. In 1849, Mr. Henry 

 Hutchins read a paper " On aerial travelling," and 

 exhibited to the meeting drawings of the method pro- 

 posed by him for giving direction to aerial locomotive 

 machines. Unfortunately this paper was not printed, 

 and there is nothing to show what Mr. Hutchins' pro- 

 posal was. At that time, Henson's flying machine was 

 six years old, but the first attempt to make a dirigible 

 balloon is attributable to Henri GifFard, of injector fame. 

 There are in the volume some papers of purely social 



