No. V. 

 COLLECTION OF ANTIQUITIES 



PRESENTED TO 



THE ROYAL IRISH ACADEMY, 



BY 



WILLIAM T. MULVANY, ESQ., M. E. I. A., 



ON THE PART OF THE COMMISSIONERS OF PUBLIC WORKS IN IRELAND. 



Read January 26, and February 9, 1852. 



As the member of the Board of Public Works in charge of the 

 department of Arterial Drainage and Inland Navigation in Ireland, 

 I have the honour, on the part of my colleagues and myself, to 

 present to the Academy a collection of antiquities obtained in the 

 execution of the works by the engineers and other officers of the 

 Board. I have also the pleasure to present the private collection of 

 antiquities of Mr. E. A. Gray, one of our engineers ; and to exhibit 

 a number of articles, the property of private individuals in Strokes- 

 town, in the county of Roscommon, which have been lent to me for 

 that purpose. 



The operations of the Board of Works in this department, ex- 

 tending over a very large portion of the island, have been in progress 

 for about nine years, and have cost, up to the present time, about 

 £1,458,000; and, besides the accomplishment of the direct objects of 

 improved agriculture and trade, for which they have been promoted, 

 these operations are full of interest to the scientific man, as re- 

 gards various hydraulic and hydrodynamic questions, and the re- 

 lations between the fall of rain and discharge of water from diffe- 

 rent areas of country of different characters ; full of interest to the 

 geologist, from the secrets of nature which, whether in her ancient 

 or more modern laboratory, are laid bare by the deep cuts through 

 strata of various formations in the lowest valleys in the country ; 

 and, finally, full of interest to the antiquary, who through their aid 

 finds the beds of deep rivers and Jakes laid dry for the first time, 

 the shoals dried and cut through, which, before bridges were 



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