( xvii ) 



that this great work, begun in 1857, still remains unfinished, and 

 that our ecclesiastical antiquities still remain undescribed and un- 

 catalogued, is to me a subject of the deepest regret. 



The catalogue of the gold ornaments and bronze weapons, as well 

 as that of all articles in stone, clay, and bone, is all but complete ; but 

 the silver articles, as well as those of iron, have yet to be catalogued. 

 Although the museum was of necessity moved, still the arrangement 

 and classification by material and use, adopted by Sir "William Wilde, 

 has been preserved, and it is proposed by our excellent curator to fur- 

 nish a key to the work. It is to be hoped that Dr. Aquilla Smith will 

 grant us his services in cataloguing and arranging the coins. We were 

 informed last year by Sir William Wilde that he had already prepared 

 the catalogue of the silver ornaments, for which 84 woodcuts are 

 already engraved. 



And here I may bring forward the name of one who has done great 

 service in the study of archaeology in general, and in that of Ireland 

 in particular. I allude to Augustus AVollaston Franks, now head of the 

 department of British and Mediaeval Antiquities and Ethnography in the 

 great museum of the nation. His most considerable printed work is his 

 portion of the letter-press to the Sorce Ferales of Kemble, a work which 

 must always be the text-book of the student of Teutonic and Celtic an- 

 tiquities, and one in which much light is thrown on the bronze antiqui- 

 ties of Ireland. His communications to the Society of Antiquaries, 

 constantly occurring since the year 1853, give evidence of his untiring 

 zeal and cautious investigations in archaeology, while the wide range of 

 his knowledge is shown in his more complete works, published in the 

 ArchceoJogia. Before his time, the department of Native Antiquities 

 in the British Museum did not exist ; for though many curious relics, 

 found in diff'erent parts of the country, were preserved in the collec- 

 tion of Sir Hans Sloane, yet it was not till 1851 that consistency and 

 a determinate character were given to the whole assemblage. 



The small but valuable collection bequeathed to the nation by 

 Mr. Christy has ah'eady become, under Mr. Franks' s scientific care 

 and energy, an important anthropological museum. The objects here 

 collected, classified, and arranged, all bearing on the history of man 

 from his first appearance on this earth, are as important to the geologist 

 as to the antiquary. Such are the implements of flint and bone de- 

 rived from the caves in the south of France. 



R. I. A , MINt'TES, SESSION 1874-1875. C 



