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who took part in the wars of Cromwell. Dr. Petrie explained 

 that it was a penny of the Scottish King, Alexander III., who 

 commenced his reign in the year 1249. It was in excellent 

 preservation, and, though not a coin of remarkable rarity, it 

 derived some interest from the locality in which it was found. 



Mr. Bergin explained a mode of preserving rusted iron an- 

 tiques, which he had been led to adopt under the following 

 circumstances: — Some months ago, Professor Ormsby, of the 

 United States, announced the discovery, by himself, of a com- 

 pound of one part of lard and three parts of resin well mixed, 

 which he recommended as a means of preserving steel from 

 becoming rusty ; stating that if one side of a plate of steel 

 were coated with his composition, and the other not, it would 

 be found at the end of some months that the side which was 

 not so protected would be covered with rust, while the other 

 would be perfectly free from it. Reflecting on this fact, it 

 occurred to him that if the rusty articles in the Museum were 

 immersed in this fatty resinous preparation, their character 

 and appearance would be preserved for the future unaltered ; 

 and, accordingly, having tried it with a rusty javelin-head, he 

 found that its colour and characteristics were wholly unaffected 

 by the experiment. 



The Rev. Dr. Todd exhibited some iron spears used by the 

 Kaffirs and Bushmen. These weapons were presented to the 

 Museum by Dr. Irwin, who had resided for several years in 

 Southern Africa, and although the donation did not, properly 

 speaking, come within the category of Irish antiquities, yet 

 the articles resembled others of the same class which had been 

 found in Ireland. These iron articles had been forged with 

 stone hammers by the tribes who made use of them in war- 

 fare. Dr. Irwin, who had actually witnessed the manufacture 

 of some of them, stated that they were forged with stones used 

 as hammers and anvils. On that account they possessed some 



