XI 



for some time engaged in jjreparing a work On the Cromleclis of 

 Cornwall. I am happy to say the greater part of it has already 

 passed through the press ; and, saving a few of the wood-cuts, 

 the remainder is nearly, if not quite, ready. As it will be pro- 

 fusely illustrated with elevations, plans, and sections, as well of 

 many foreign, as of all our Cornish, cromlechs, it will probably be 

 a meet companion for his works on Cornish Crosses and The 

 Churches of West Cornwall. 



The M^n rock, near Constantine * — of its kind the most inter- 

 esting object in Cornwall — has been destroyed since our last 

 meeting. Twenty years ago Mr. Edmonds warned the county t 

 that it was menaced by the approach of the quarry-men; and 

 witliin a few months attempts to interest in its preservation, gentle- 

 men resident in that neighbourhood, were made by Mr. Cornish 

 of Penzance, and I believe by other parties, but, unhappily, in 

 vain. We have heard and read of selfish landowners who, an- 

 noyed perhaps by crowds of intrusive travellers, had forbidden 

 the public from visiting objects of attraction on their grounds ; 

 but it seems difficult, if not im230ssible, to imagine the destruction 

 of so great a natural curiosity as the Men rock for mere greed of 

 the pence and half-pence to be realized by the sale of its frag- 

 ments. This act of Vandalism has, however, already set on foot 

 measures for the preservation of other objects of general interest ; 

 a,nd we are promised forthwith an Act of Parliament which, if it 

 cannot restrain, will punish future perpetrators of similar atroci- 

 ties. 



As the coasts of Cornwall are of greater extent than the 

 coasts of any other English county, ottr predecessors in office — ■ 

 availing themselves of this natural advantage — enriched our orni- 

 thological cabinets with one of the best local collections in the 

 kingdom. Those of us who have been familiar with our cliffs for 

 thirty or forty years past, are aware that several birds, almost 

 peculiar to this part of the country — although they are unfit for 

 food — have been almost, if not quite, exterminated ; it is with 

 peculiar pleasure, therefore, that we find these beautiful and harm- 

 less denizens of our shores are now to be protected by the law. 



Annual accounts of our products must be alike interesting to 

 the producer and the consumer. The quantities of metallic and 

 earthy minerals exported from the county have been so accurately 



* Borlase, Antiquities of Cornwall (Second Edition), p. 174, pi. xiii-, 

 f Transactions of the Penzance Nat. Hist. Society, i (1849), p. 309, pi. t= 



B 2 



