Minutes of Proceedings. 217 



come prominently forward during my term of office. With respect to 

 at least the latter branch this liope has been amply fulfilled, and I 

 trust the impulse already given will be maintained. A new series 

 of investigations into the anthropology and social condition of the 

 inhabitants of the more remote and less advanced districts of our 

 island has been commenced, which is sure in the future to lead to 

 important results. Several of our national monuments have been more 

 thoroughly explored and more accurately described than ever before ; 

 and something has been done towards increasing the number of the 

 ancient structures which have been taken under the care of the 

 public, and will thus be saved from the consequences of violence or 

 neglect. A steady effort has been made towards obtaining a more 

 complete and effective exhibition of the treasures of our collection in 

 the Museum of Science and Art. The edition of the Annals of Ulster 

 is within measurable distance of completion. The preparation of the 

 Book of Armagh for publication is well advanced ; the Gospels, I was 

 some time since informed, will be in type before the close of my presi- 

 dency, and the entire printing is expected to be completed within the 

 present year. The greatest of our enterprises iu the field of Celtic litera- 

 ture — namely, the Irish Dictionary — continues to make progress ; but it 

 has been retarded by the limitation of our resources. A communica- 

 tion was made to me just before my election as President respecting 

 a handsome contribution to our funds, in the shape of a sum left 

 on trust to be devoted to this work, but the Academy has not 

 received the gift. The exact nature of the communication, and the 

 subsequent circumstances arising out of it, ought, of course, to be 

 made known to the Council, and it will be my duty, before the end 

 of my official term, to submit a statement of the facts to that body, 

 with which will then rest the determination of the action to be taken 

 in relation to the matter. 



Within our house we have now collected portraits of many 

 distinguished men who have sat in the Chair which I less worthily 

 occupy. To speak only of those whom I have known in the course 

 of my Academic experience — Hamilton, Eobinson, Todd, Graves, 

 Kane, Ferguson, Haughton, and Reeves now look down upon us 

 from our walls. On those who will come after us the pictured 

 presence of these intellectual ancestors must have an elevating and 



[21^'] 



