( clxxxii ) 



5. The Yen. P. Goold, elected June 14, 1858. 



6. J. H. Pickford, elected December 11, 1843. 



7. Colonel Meadows Taylor, elected January 12, 1863. 



8. Sir William E. Wilde, elected June 10, 1839. 



9. Eobert Wilson, elected June 10, 1849. 



One of these names, that of Sir William Wilde, will always be 

 honourably associated with the work of the Eoyal Irish Academy ; 

 and a few words must here be said of the great services he ren- 

 dered to Irish ArchiBology, and the labours which entitled him in 

 an eminent degree to our grateful remembrance. Prom his early 

 years a devoted student of the history and antiquities of our 

 country, he became in after-life an earnest disciple of the 

 school which, discarding the fanciful doctrines and vicious modes 

 of inquiry which had so long disfigured and discredited Irish 

 archaeological study, proposed to itself to subject researches of this 

 kind to the rigorous discipline of scientific method. Placing before 

 himself the idea that in our Museum were to be found some of the 

 most precious materials for the social palaeontology of our country — 

 for the study of its primitive races, their ideas, manners and mode of 

 life — he applied himself to the classification and cataloguing of its 

 contents, with the double view of assisting the systematic inquirer and 

 enlightening the general mind of our people on these subjects. Not 

 only did he prepare himself for this task by a lengthened and minute 

 study of the collection itself, but, while the work was in progress, he 

 visited the principal Museums of jSTorthel-n Europe, in order to ac- 

 quaint himself by personal inspection with the analogies and relations 

 ■which connect Irish pre-historic remains with those of Scandinavia. 

 This indicates an important feature in the spirit which characterized 

 his researches, namely, the habitual application, in this field of 

 inquiry, of the comparative method which is now universally acknow- 

 ledged to be one of the most effective instruments in the study of 

 archaeology and the early history of mankind. He completed the 

 Catalogue of the gold, copper and bronze articles in our Museum, and 

 of the objects composed of stone, earthen, vegetable, or animal mate- 

 rials ; and these portions of the work have since been the constant 

 companions and guides of all who have wished to derive profit from 

 an examination of our antiquarian treasures. 



In the transfer of our collection to a new place in our premises, 



