50 
Before I proceed to the principal subject to which I have alluded, 
perhaps you will allow me, for his Excellency’s information, as well as 
for yours, to give a short account of the history of the Cunningham 
Medals, and the different plans that have been, at different times, adopted 
of awarding them. 
Timothy Cunningham, of Gray’s Inn, London, left to the Academy, 
by his will, the sum of £1000. This bequest was notified to the Council 
August 1, 1789, and to the Academy, October 31, 1789; and in these 
facts, I am sorry to say, is contained almost all I know of our benefactor. 
The Academy made every effort to obtain a bust or a picture of him, but 
no such memorial was in existence. 
His will left full powers to the Academy to dispose of his bequest 
according to such rules as the Council might, from time to time, enact, 
for the encouragement of learning in Ireland, by offering Prizes for 
Essays on certain subjects, or giving rewards to distinguished authors ; 
and accordingly, different plans have, at different times, been adopted. 
The first plan was that of giving Prizes for the best Essay on a sub- 
ject proposed by the Academy. f 
This was soon afterwards altered, and ‘‘The Cunningham Gold Medal” 
was instituted instead of a pecuniary prize. 
These Medals were for some time given for papers published in the 
Transactions of the Academy, but this plan was objected to as nar- 
rowing too much the field of competition, and diminishing in proportion 
the honour of the reward. 
Accordingly, in the year 1848, the plan now in operation was insti- 
tuted. It is as follows :— 
1. All works or Essays, in the departments of Science, Polite Lite- 
rature, or Antiquities, which shall be published in Ireland, whether in 
~ the ‘‘ Transactions of the Academy’”’ or not, or which shall relate to Irish 
subjects, may be considered as competing for the Medal. 
2. The Council shall award Medals every third year, and shall then 
take into consideration all papers or works coming under this descrip- 
tion, which have been published within the six years preceding. 
3. Money premiums shall, from time to time, be given for Essays 
or Reports on stated subjects. 
This last regulation has never as yet been acted upon, the fund at 
the disposal ofthe Council having been found too small to enable them 
to carry out both objects; this is the more to be regretted, as it is evi- 
dent that the Medals given in accordance with the first and second rules 
do not produce or encourage new researches, but only reward those 
authors who had laboured independently, and whose works would have 
been published, whether any such Medals had been given or not. 
But besides this, our Medals are, in my opinion, open to a still greater 
objection, owing to the fact that they are of gold, and that they are all 
struck from the same die. A gold medal is necessarily unique: it is 
locked up in a strong box during the lifetime of its owner, and at his 
death it is, in many cases, disposed of for the value of the gold, by his 
executors or his heir. A gold medal, therefore, does not spread the fame, 
either of the individual who receives it, or of the Academy by whom it 
