217 



talogue of the stone articles Dr. Petrie proposes to add a chap- 

 ter on the clay urns found in ancient places of sepulture. As 

 these objects belong to the pagan period, it appears more fitting 

 to connect them with the class of stone articles than with any 

 of the metallic groups. 



As regards the time when the Council has reason to ex- 

 pect the execution of this plan, it will be most satisfactory to 

 the Academy to hear that Dr. Petrie has pledged himself to 

 devote his undivided attention to the preparation of the Cata- 

 logue, and to deposit the manuscript of at least the first por- 

 tion of it Avith the Committee of Publication before the Stated 

 Meeting of the Academy, in March, 1852. 



It is hoped that the publication of Dr. Petrie's Catalogue 

 will accomplish several important ends. 



In the first instance, it will be a complete list of all the 

 articles in the Museum, in which each specimen will have its 

 own number. Thus the safe keeping of the objects will be 

 provided for, and we shall no longer be absolutely dependent, 

 as we now are, on the vigilance and integrity of our Curator. 



Moreover, the visiters to the Museum will be able, by re- 

 ference to the Catalogue, to ascertain the nature of each ob- 

 ject, and satisfy the reasonable curiosity which our Collec- 

 tion is so well calculated to excite. As the Academy is an 

 institution which derives a part of its resources from the State, 

 it is but just that its Collections should be made as available as 

 possible for the use of the public. 



The introductory chapters to the several parts of the Cata- 

 logue will render it, in a great measure, a manual of Irish 

 archeology, diffusing sound information on this subject. When 

 such knowledge becomes more general, many articles of anti- 

 quarian interest will be saved from the fate to which they are 

 now subject, through the ignorance of those into whose hands 

 they fall. 



It may be added, that the publication of such a Catalogue 



