188 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 
and Philosophic Body, capable of rendering like services to South 
Kensington as the Academy claims to render to the Universities, by 
carrying forward what were the last results of class-room instruction 
into individual investigation and discovery to be re-contributed to the 
former stock of teaching capacity. The possibility of a splendid 
future is open to that Society, standing, as it does, in the front of the 
march of imperial intelligence, and capable, if it will, of giving 
increased vitality and even direction to its forces. That any distrust 
of the aims of a Body so well deserving in its past services, and 
having before it a field of usefulness so wide and honourable, should 
have existed, and should still require to be allayed, speaks ill for 
their capacity of dealing with the intellectual forces of a people who 
have suffered such results to grow out of their administration. 
The Department, however, will, without doubt, afford the best 
instruction that can be given in scientific aid of the Industrial Arts, 
and in this its operations will have the grateful suffrages of all 
classes. But the domain of Taste—whether artistic, architectural, or 
esthetic—is a free field, in which teaching ex cathedrd carries no 
more authority than the critical judgments of individual refinement ; 
and we will still look to our educated classes at large, and particularly 
to the Members of the Royal Dublin Society, not only to aid in the 
promotion of every Useful Art, but to contribute the influences of 
independent taste in the Fine Arts towards the general amenities of 
our city and country. The true schools of the Fine Arts in all 
countries have been the abodes of individual men of genius, sustained 
by the presence of a rich and splendid society. Whether we shall 
ever again possess such a class of patrons as called forth the artistic 
and architectural excellence of the last century no one can fore- 
see; but it needs no prevision to perceive that genius, although a 
class-room may bring it into notice, is not a thing that can be 
taught. 
There seems indeed something incongruous in the authors of the 
architectural works hitherto produced under the auspices of the 
Department being charged with the instruction in Taste of the 
possessors of such structures as Leinster House, the City Hall, and 
the Bank of Ireland. But whatever may be thought of the buildings 
in which the London collections are deposited, no one of ordinary 
intelligence can view their contents without some enlargement of 
ideas and a great deal of enjoyment. Few observers, indeed, what- 
ever their capacity, can move through the objects assembled in the 
new Natural History Museum without experiencing an almost re- 
ligious sense of awe and wonder, and possibly, also, of responsibility 
for the faculties which have placed man at the head of so astonishing 
a creation. The Department is about to provide a Museum of similar 
collections here. Ifits exterior be worthy of its neighbourhood, it 
will form an elegant and dignified feature in our city. If its collec- 
tions be but approximately as instructive as those of the great London 
Institutions, our Irish public cannot but benefit from observation and 
