THE ROYAL DUBLIN SOCIETY 291 



future, the Lord Lieutenant held the office of vice- 

 patron, and that the presidents should be chosen from 

 among the members. The Society acquiesced in the 

 Council's views, and, on the 5th of March 1874, the 

 Duke of Abercorn, lord lieutenant, was elected to the 

 former office, and the Marquis of Kildare, afterwards 

 Duke of Leinster, became president. 



On the 8th of April 1875, Mr. Richard Jackson 

 Moss, F.C.S., was appointed keeper of the minerals 

 and analyst, in the room of Dr. J. Emerson Reynolds, 

 elected professor of Chemistry in the University of 

 Dublin. On the 7th March 1878, Mr. Moss was 

 promoted to be registrar of the Society in the room 

 of Dr. Steele, appointed general director of the Science 

 and Art Museum. 



From the year 1872, and indeed still earlier, negotia- 

 tions had been going on in reference to the establish- 

 ment of a Science and Art Museum, and the grouping 

 together in a convenient locality, of it, of a national 

 library, a museum of natural history, one of Irish 

 antiquities, a national gallery, and a school of art. 

 It was also proposed to transfer the Royal Irish 

 Academy to the central site. In the meantime, the 

 Society had acquired by purchase from Captain Arch- 

 dall, for the sum of 1000, No. i Kildare place, 

 and the Shelbourne yard. 



In 1876 a letter was received from Lord Sandon, 

 then Vice-President of the Committee of the Council on 

 Education, intimating that the Government had formed 

 a scheme for the purpose of augmenting and extending 

 the facilities for Science and Art Instruction in Ireland, 

 and inviting the co-operation of the Royal Dublin 

 Society. The scheme, based mainly upon the recom- 

 mendations of the Commission of 1868, contemplated 



