^26 Royal Irish Academy. 



their political position, they had some of the best qualities of aristo- 

 cracies : they were patriotic ; they were high-spirited and generous ; they 

 could appreciate wit, eloquence, literature, and art. Lord Charlemont 

 was one of the best types of his class — he was, as has been said, at 

 ■once a patriot and a Mtecenas — he had travelled much; he was an 

 accomplished man, possessing, in particular, a thorough knowledge of 

 Italian literature. When he was elected President, he did not 

 merely wear the title as a feather in his cap ; he devoted much time 

 and energy to building up the Academy in its early years, and his 

 name deserves to be held in honourable memory amongst us. The 

 history of the Academy seems to fall naturally into three parts or 

 periods. The first period would end about the middle of the third 

 decade of the present century. The principal figures of the time were 

 Kirwan and Brinkley, men of real eminence — the one as a mineralogist 

 and chemist, the other as an astronomer. This was a period of pre- 

 paration and training, rather than of achievement ; the Academy was 

 fostering the scientific and literary genius of the nation, but had not 

 yet earned a European fame. Then came the wonderful outburst 

 which began in the twenties of our century. I know few things in 

 the history of intellect more remarkable than the movement which 

 went on during the next twenty-five years, forming the great period 

 of the Academy — a movement which may be studied with pleasure 

 and profit in two delightful books — Stokes' 'Life of Petrie,' and Graves' 

 'Life of Hamilton.' During the brief period I have mentioned a mar- 

 vellous amount of memorable work was done. The leading figures on 

 the stage were — Hamilton, M'Cullagh, Lloyd, and Petrie. Hamilton 

 stood in the very foremost rank of mathematicians. There is nothing 

 in recent mathematics to compare with his Calculus of Quaternions. 

 M'Cullagh was more restricted to the field of pure geometry, but he 

 had great geometrical resource, and the beauty of his methods and 

 results was singularly attractive. Lloyd was a great physicist — in 

 particular, terrestrial magnetism owes to him, perhaps, more than to 

 any other man. Petrie was the great reformer of Irish ArchiBology, 

 who dispelled the dreams of the Yallanceys and the Ledwiches, and 

 founded an era of genuine inductive research. !N'ow, the fame of all 

 these men is indissolubly connected with that of the Academy, for 

 almost all their most important discoveries were first announced at its 

 meetings. This is true of Hamilton's deductive anticipation of the 



