250 Royal Irish Academy. 



To this Eesolution the Society, at the solicitation of the Govern- 

 ment, unanimously assented on the 10th IS'ovemher, 1836, and 

 from that time the continuous and more systematic publication 

 of Scientific communications dates. It had, therefore, existed 

 for thirty years in its fuller form when it was further ' granted 

 and confirmed' to the Society, by its Supplemental Charter. 



" B. The letter from the Academy further states that the 

 practice of the Royal Dublin Society has not heretofore been to 

 cultivate ' Abstract Science.' It is plain, from the context, that 

 by 'Abstract,' we are here to understand Pure, as opposed to 

 Applied, Science ; and understanding this to be the meaning of 

 the term, the statement is erroneous. In order to make this 

 evident, the Delegates have had the Scientific work communi- 

 cated to the Royal Dublin Society at its Scientific Meetings 

 examined ; and, in order to show that the practice is long es- 

 tablished, they went back twenty years, viz., to January, 1856, 

 and have analysed the first two hundred consecutive Papers 

 published by the Society after that date. The result of the 

 analysis is as follows : — - 



" Of these 200 Papers— 



" 98 are in Pure Science; 



" 70 are in Applied Science ; and 



'' 32 on non-Scientific Subjects. 



"By going back twenty years more, that is, to 1836, the 

 result is similar, [See List of Scientific Communications, made 

 at the several consecutive meetings of 1836, appended to this 

 Statement.] 



" Hence the assertion that an effort is now being made to 

 'alter' the character of the Society, 'by embarking it in the 

 cultivation of Abstract Science,' is in conflict with the foregoing 

 facts. 



' ' In reality, neither the Royal Irish Academy, nor the Royal 

 Dublin Society, nor both the Societies taken together, have been 

 the exclusive cultivators of Science in Dublin, nor has either 

 body any ground whatever to claim a monopoly in that respect. 



"Moreover, the statement that Ireland will be ' deprived of 

 the valuable services in relation to industrial subjects which are 



