PREFACE 



vn 



members to interest themselves in, provided it tended 

 to any practical result for the benefit of the com- 

 munity. From agricultural machinery and the great 

 fishing industry ; from science and the fine arts down 

 to rag-picking and rat-catching, nothing seemed to 

 come amiss. All who came forward with plans or 

 inventions, of even the humblest character, had a patient 

 hearing, and if possible, a helping hand extended. 

 How many a promising art student was stimulated 

 to further effort, and afforded the means of completing 

 his education ! What numbers of impoverished country 

 tenants were enabled to live more comfortably, and 

 enjoy improved conditions through the Society's en- 

 lightened efforts ! In Dublin alone, not to speak of 

 country districts, thousands of artisans and skilled 

 workmen have been indebted to its schools and 

 teachers for their means of livelihood. It were need- 

 less to point out the improvement in the breed of 

 cattle and horses effected by the Society's operations, 

 or to recount the measures taken to promote the 

 fisheries round our coasts. 



In the long period during which the Dublin Society 

 has laboured, many important changes in social and 

 economic conditions have taken place, and a perusal 

 of this volume will make it plain that for years it 

 performed many functions which at length the Govern- 

 ment of the country was compelled to discharge. The 

 Art Schools, the Museum, Botanic Garden, and the 

 Veterinary Department, which represent branches of 

 work to which the Society's energies were devoted in 

 the past, are all now placed under State control. The 



