io A HISTORY OF 



William Maple, a distinguished chemist, and operator in 

 chemistry to the University of Dublin, was keeper of the 

 Parliament House, and it was through his influence that the 

 newly formed Society was enabled to meet in one of the 

 committee rooms, until suitable premises were found. In 

 1723 he had been selected to give evidence before the 

 House of Commons as to the composition of the metal in 

 Wood's halfpence. In 1727 the Irish Parliament presented 

 Maple with 200 for discovering a method of tanning 

 leather by the root of the Tormentilla erecta or Septfoil, and 

 in 1729 he published a pamphlet entitled A Method of 

 Tanning without Bark. Maple acted as curator and 

 registrar to the Dublin Society until his death, which took 

 place in 1762, at an advanced age. In his will he speaks of 

 his modest fortune as the result " of a painful life of labour," 

 and he bequeathed the greater part of it to a niece, Frances 

 Potter. There is a bust of Maple, by Cunningham, in 

 Leinster House. 



At a meeting held on the ist of July 1731, it was 

 agreed that the word "Sciences" should be added after 

 "Arts " in the title of the Society. Soon after, Anthony 

 Sheppard, jun., was appointed its first treasurer, a post 

 which he held until his death in 1737. A sumof 301. 

 was to be paid on admission to membership, and 30^. 

 was to be the amount of the annual subscription. 



Among the earliest admissions a strong clerical 

 element was noticeable, and the following five digni- 

 taries of the Irish Church joined the Society in September 

 1731 : (i) Theophilus Bolton, archbishop of Cashel, one 

 of Swift's correspondents. He was a leader in politics, 

 opposed to Primate Boulter, and favourable to the 

 Irish as distinguished from the English interest. The 

 Archbishop was an improver of land, by draining bogs 

 which were large and useless, and turning them into 

 pasture and tillage. He placed the city of Cashel 

 under great obligation by instituting a water supply 

 at his own expense. Great rejoicings took place at its 



