356 
Mownpay, May 26rTn, 1856. 
JAMES HENTHORN TODD, D.D., Presivenr, 
in the Chair. 
Mr. W. R. WIxpE read a Paper on the introduction and 
the time of the general use of the Potato in Ireland,—and its 
various failures since that period; with some notice of the 
substance called Bog-butter. 
‘¢ Some few years ago, having turned my attention to the 
subject of the ‘ Food of the Irish,’ especially in early times, and 
written some essays upon it in the ‘Dublin University Maga- 
zine,’ (see Numbers for January and March, 1854), the potato 
came, in due course and chronological order, under considera- 
tion. Having looked into the authorities which bore upon the 
subject of the early introduction of the potato into Ireland, I 
then arrived at the conclusion that it became an article of gene- 
ral food, and consequently, as such, was themeans of influencing 
—as far as the mode of producing food, and the constituents and 
character of that food could be the means of influencing—the 
moral, physical, social, political, and commercial condition of . 
the people about the middle of the seventeenth century. My at- 
tention was again called to the subject by the publication of Mr. 
Macaulay’s ‘History of England,’ in which he mentions the 
potato as influencing the feelings and character of the people 
during the period over which his third and fourth volumes 
extend. He has twice mentioned the potato (vol. iil. p. 158, 
and vol. iv. p. 110), and in one instance under very peculiar 
circumstances—at the siege of Limerick. The beleaguered 
city, having stood out to the last, capitulated, and then a me- 
morable scene took place—a scene well worthy the attention of 
the painter and the poet,—on each side of the gate stood the 
generals of the respective armies, with their attendants; out 
