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toth aid and impul sefrom the institution of your Museum, a collection 

 well worthy of this Academy, and of this Country. It may be rash in 

 one wholly unacquainted with the subj ect, as lam, to offer any suggestio n 

 respecting it; yet I cannot but think that much more may be done, in 

 advancing our knowledge of Antiquities generally, and especially of that 

 higher department of it which borders so closely upon History, — the dis- 

 tribution of the early races of mankind, — by the comparison of our own 

 Monuments, and other relics of early civilization, with those of other coun- 

 tries. The information we gather from a Cairn, a Torque, or a Spear- 

 head, will then no longer be limited to the light which they may throw upon 

 the arts and mannersof our Celtic ancestors. We may obtain from them a 

 knowledge of the geographical distribution of their various tribes, much 

 in the same manner as the geologist recognizes the fragments of one of 

 the great formations which compose the earth's crust by the comparison 

 of their imbedded fossils; — we may approach the history of their families, 

 and trace them up to the parent stock. Studied with this reference. 

 Antiquities may, perhaps in an important degree, tend to advance the 

 science of Ethnology ; and be combined with the study of Language, 

 and of Physiological characters, as a new instrument in its research. 



" Gentlemen, — 1 fear I have already trespassed too long upon 

 your time. But I desire, before I conclude, to offer a few remarks 

 upon the future advancement of the objects of the Academy, and upon 

 some of the modes by which it may be accelerated. 



"The first and chief of these, beyond all question, is rapid publica- 

 tion. It is not to be expected that men, who find a reward for their 

 toils in the sympathy with which they are hailed by those engaged 

 elsewhere in the same pursuits — it is not to be expected that they will 

 communicate to us the fruits of those toils, if they should be long with- 

 held from public view. Already there are indications that researches, 

 which should naturally find their place in our Transactions, are about to 

 reach the public through other channels. I trust that this evil may be 

 stayed. The injury that it inflicts is not merely the loss of so much 

 that should add to our credit and our character as a public body, but 

 this very loss itself reacts upon, and augments the evil from which it has 

 sprung. Nor is it necessary for me to urge, that publication is the first, — 

 the main and essential duty of such a body as ours. No matter what 



