246 A HISTORY OF 



A list of the casts is supplied in appendix to Pro- 

 ceedings^ 1828. 



On the 4th of December 1828, Mr. Isaac Weld was 

 elected honorary secretary to the Society. He was born 

 in Dublin in 1774, and received the name of Isaac after 

 his grandfather. The latter was so named from Isaac 

 Newton, who was a friend of the Rev. Nathaniel Weld, 

 his father. Having travelled in the United States and 

 Canada, Weld, in 1795-97, published his Travels. He 

 became a member of the Society in 1 800, and in 1 849 

 was elected one of its vice-presidents. He undertook 

 the Statistical Survey of Roscommon, and in 1807, 

 published illustrations of the Scenery of Killarney. 

 Being keenly interested in Irish industries, Weld was 

 the first to suggest the triennial exhibitions of manu- 

 factures, afterwards conducted under the auspices of 

 the Society. In later life Weld travelled a good deal 

 in Italy, and became a friend of Canova. He died at 

 Bray in 1856, and in the following year the members 

 of the Royal Dublin Society erected a monument to 

 his memory in Mount Jerome cemetery. 



For two or three years previously the attendance at 

 the meetings was small, and the minutes of the pro- 

 ceedings are very brief. 



Government now directed special attention to the 

 estimates, and a committee of the House of Commons 

 made a report, which included certain recommenda- 

 tions. The committee thought the private funds of 

 the Society should be increased. The lectures ought 

 not to be gratuitous, and 200 a year, at least, ought 

 to be produced from those on chemistry, mineralogy, 

 and natural philosophy ; otherwise the estimate for 

 each must necessarily be reduced. Only absolutely 

 suitable books should, they said, be purchased for the 

 library. Admission by ballot to a Society mainly sup- 



