XXVIi1 
At the conclusion of proceedings, Dr. BARHAM proposed that 
the best thanks of the Institution be given to Sir John St. Aubyn 
for the ability with which he had presided over the proceedings, 
and also for the manner in which he had discharged his duties as 
President during his term of office, notwithstanding the difficulties 
consequent on his occupation with more important public duties. 
It had been a great satisfaction to the Society to be able to asso- 
ciate with itself so distinguished a member of so distinguished a 
family.—Dr. Le NEVE Foster seconded the motion; and it was 
agreed to unanimously.—Sir JoHN St. AUBYN suitably acknow- 
ledged the compliment ; and vacated the chair in favour of the 
newly-elected President, Dr. JAGo, who returned his sincere thanks 
for the honour conferred upon him. He felt the responsibility of 
the office to which he had been elected, and promised his best 
endeavours to fill it worthily. 
The evening conversazione was numerously attended, especially 
by ladies. Dr. Jago, F.R.S., the President, occupied the chair. 
Mr. T. Cornisu, of Penzance, read a paper, in which, without 
giving in his adhesion to the theories of Ferguson and Marcus 
Keene, he applied them to the ancient rude stone memorials in 
West Cornwall. Ferguson, as is well known, holds that the crom- 
lechs, stone circles, and similar antiquities, are of very much more 
modern origin than is commonly believed,—that they were erected 
by a people whom, by those relics of their presence, he traces 
from the East,—and that they are battle-memorials. Taking this 
as a starting-point, Mr. Cornish argued that at the time these 
memorials were erected, there could not have been a sufficient 
population in West Cornwall to take sides and engage in interne- 
cine. warfare, and then to erect these important remains, which 
must have been the result of large associated effort. Moreover, 
these memorials must not only have been erected by a people who 
asssembled in numbers, but by persons who could work stone and 
were acquainted with the working of metals. Doubtful that this 
could be affirmed of the native Cornish at that date, he adduced 
the theories of Mr. Marcus Keene, and suggested that the crom- 
lech builders came from Ireland, where such a people undoubtedly 
lived ; and that track-lines of cromlechs, circles, and barrows, 
which he traced from Whitsand Bay near the Land’s End, Hayle, 
and Padstow, might indicate the onward march of invaders land- 
ing at these spots respectively. He thought also that it was un- 
likely that the knowledge of raising and working of tin originated 
in the county. Most probably the knowledge was communicated 
