159 
Mr. Wilde presented to the Museum, on the part of the Rev. Mr. 
M‘Loughlin, P. P. of Antrim, a number of articles found in one of the 
erannoges described in his paper (p. 135). 
MONDAY, APRIL 25, 1859. 
James Hentuorn Topp, D. D, President, in the Chair. 
Mz. Witp presented several donations, and made the following remarks 
on them :— 
“*On the part of His Excellency the Earl of Eglinton, two iron basket- 
hilted swords, Nos. 160 and 161, each three feet long in the blade, with 
fish-skin handle covers and buff leather under-guards. They were found 
in an old press in the Privy Council Chamber in Dublin Castle, and were 
procured for the Academy through General Larcom. 
“‘ By reference to the ‘ Proceedings’ for April 12, 1858, we find at 
p- 41 the acknowledgment of a collection of bronze pins from the neigh- 
bourhood of Gweedore. As neither the name of the noble donor nor the 
circumstances under which they were found has been mentioned, I beg 
to record the following communication from Lord George Hill upon the 
subject :—‘ The ancient pins which I presented to the Royal Irish Aca- 
demy were found at different times, within these four or five years, upon 
the shore of the townland of Magheraclogher, in the district of Gwee- 
dore, parish of West Tullagh-obegley, barony of Kilmacrenan, and county 
of Donegal. There are shifting sand-hills on various parts of the coast, 
the wind and rain affecting which, expose these ancient relics to view; 
and also the remains of the habitations of the former inhabitants, who 
must have retreated inland as the sands encroached upon them.’ These 
pins will be kept as ascparate find, illustrative of the style of art in such 
articles used at their time, and in the locality from which they were ob- 
tained; but in numerical order they will follow after No. 504 of the bronze 
pins described in the manuscript registration, and the list of purchases 
for the year 1858-59. See also the ‘ Ulster Archeological Journal,’ 
vol. vi., p. 351. 
“‘T allude to the circumstance of these numbers here, because I look 
upon it as of the greatest importance, that in all future donations made 
to the Academy, some distinctive mark should be attached to the objects, 
by which they can be subsequently recognised in the Museum, and that 
everything that is known about them should at once be furnished to the 
editor of the ‘ Proceedings’ for publication. Had this been done when 
we first began to collect and to record these donations, a catalogue would 
have been formed of immense value in the present day. As, however, 
the Committee of Antiquities have undertaken to present the Academy, 
once a quarter, with an account of the various articles which have been 
purchased, as well as of such donations as have not been already de- 
scribed, I hope to see adopted a better mode of recording the history, 
and a better form of identifying those antiquities which come into the 
Museum, either as purchases or donations, for the future. It is right 
