416 



liverance from ' pains.' The word for pains is written in a con- 

 tracted form, and might as well stand for prisons, but on exa- 

 mining the context it is plainly the former word which is to be 

 looked for. The charms and conjurations are in general for 

 the purpose of learning the results of ' sickness in any particu- 

 lar case ;' of determining whether ' friends will be faithful,' &c. 

 We have ' cures for the stone,' and incantations ' to make grey 

 hair grow black.' This book confirms the character which 

 history gives us of the Duke, as a weak, frivolous, and super- 

 stitious man, not unlikely to be influenced for good or evil 

 by the persons and circumstances in which he found himself ; 

 and, in its degree, it does something to illustrate the spirit of 

 the age in which he lived." 



December 10th, 1849. 



The REV. HUMPHREY LLOYD, D. D., President, 

 in the Chair. 



The Rev. Henry King, LL. D., was elected a Member of 

 the Academy. 



Mr. Ball, on the part of Abraham Whyte Baker, Sen., 

 Esq., of Ballaghtobin, a member of the Academy, and one 

 who has always endeavoured to promote its objects, presented 

 accurate casts of two bear skulls found in the county of 

 Westmeath. The following is a summary of the information 

 Mr. Ball has been able to obtain relative to these very inte- 

 resting relics of a powerful species long extinct in this island. 

 Mr. Underwood, the well-known and industrious collector of 

 antiquities, who has rescued from destruction many of the 

 best specimens of human art now in the Academy's museum, 

 being in 1846 on one of his tours through the country, dis- 



