332 
the advice of our superiorsthat has induced us,” said the clergymen ; “ it 
was not our will; it is St. Molaise of Damh-Inis that has sent us to 
speak to thee, for the following reason :— 
£‘As a farmer of Damh-Inis had been attending to his cows at early 
morning, he saw four armed men, with their shields down, passing over 
the island. He immediately saw four other men meet them, whereupon 
they struck at each other, so that the sound of the stricken shields could 
be heard throughout the island, until they all fell at both sides, but one 
man only, who escaped, mortally wounded. 
‘The seven slain men were burned by Molaise, and they left behind 
them as much gold and silver as would be a load for two of us; the gold 
and silver ornaments of their cloaks, their necks, their shields, their 
spears, their swords, their hands, and their tunics. ‘And we have 
come,’ said they, ‘to know how much of that gold and silver you will 
claim for your share.’ ‘Not so,’ said King Diarmaid, ‘ what God has 
sent to Molaise, I shall not share with Hea. Let ih cover his relics 
with it.’ This was verified. It was with that silver and that gold, St. 
Molaise’s relics were ornamented, namely, his shrine, and his minister, 
and his crozier.’ 
The President remarked that the reliquary here called the ‘ Minis- 
ter” of St. Molaise, was most probably the box, a model of which was 
before the Academy. . It contained a MS. of the Gospels which ecclesi- 
astics of that period (the seventh century) were wont to carry with them 
in their missionary travels. These volumes often contained, together 
with the Gospels, the ritual for the visitation and communion of the sick, 
as in some MSS. of this class in the Library of Trinity College, Dublin;° 
and a valuable ‘‘ Minister,” or ornamental box of this description, al- 
though of a much later date, now in the possession of the Karl of Ash- 
burnham, contains an ancient MS. missal, to which the President had 
some time ago called the attention of the Academy. 
The legend is curious, as showing that valuable ornaments of gold 
and silver were worn generally by warriors upon their persons at the 
period to which it refers, and also that there was at that time a sort of 
law of treasurestrove in Ireland, by which the king was entitled to the 
gold or silver found under the circumstances related in the foregoing 
_ narrative. 
Rosert Matter, C. E., F. R. S., read— 
SOME REMARKS UPON CAPTAIN BLAKELY’S, R.A., PRETENSIONS TO PRIORITY 
AS ORIGINAL DISCOVERER OF THE PRINCIPLES, AND INVENTOR. OF THE 
METHODS, OF CONSTRUCTING ORDNANCE IN SUPERIMPOSED RINGS, WITH 
INITIAL TENSION. 
Two distinct issues have been raised by Captain Blakely, in reference to 
right of priority, by his paper, read on the 14th of May last, and entitled, 
“On the Practical Application of a Principle announced to the Academy 
~ 
