CONTENTS 



CHAP. P*GE 



I. ORIGIN OF THE SOCIETY . . . . . i 

 II. CONSTITUTION AND PROGRESS OF THE SOCIETY . 14 



III. THE "WEEKLY OBSERVATIONS" AND GENERAL 



HISTORY OF THE SOCIETY. (1736-1750) . 34 



IV. DR. MADDEN'S AND THE SOCIETY'S PREMIUM 



SYSTEMS. (1739-1790) .... 52 

 V. THE SOCIETY'S CHARTER AND ITS FURTHER 



PROGRESS. (1750-1767) 75 



VI. HOMES OF THE SOCIETY 88 



VII. THE DRAWING SCHOOLS 108 



VIII. EXPERIMENTS IN AGRICULTURE, AND GENERAL 



PROCEEDINGS. (1764-1780) . . .136 

 IX. THE SCHOOLS OF CHEMISTRY AND MINERALOGY. 



(1786-1836) . 154 



X. THE LIBRARY; AND THE STATISTICAL SURVEYS 



OF COUNTIES 17 



XL THE BOTANIC GARDEN ... .186 

 XII. THE HIBERNIAN SILK AND WOOLLEN WARE- 

 HOUSES . i9 8 



XIII. FINANCES OF THE SOCIETY: MEMBERSHIP AND 



BY-LAWS. (1761-1836) . .209 



XIV. GENERAL HISTORY OF THE SOCIETY. (1781-1815) 217 



xi 



