xiy Proceedings, die. 



tion be referred to a committee, for consideration and report, 

 both, as to its merits and the most easy method of carrying it into 

 effect. I propose the following gentlemen : — the Hon. Capt. Clarke, 

 M.L.A. ; Professors Wilson, Hearn, and Irving, of the University ; 

 Dr. Macadam, Mr. Orlebar, Dr. Eades, Mr. Thomas, E. Rawlinson, 

 and the mover. . 



" I give also notice of motion to the following effect : — 



" That a board be formed ont of the members of the sections, to 

 be a board of practical and theoretical science, to be open to take 

 cognizance of and give advice npon matters connected with the de- 

 velopment of any branch of material resources of the colony, more 

 especially agriculture and mining." 



The discussion on this paper was postponed till the next meeting. 



Professor Irving read, on behalf of Herr Gustav Joachimi, some 

 notes upon the " Wall Paintings of Herculaneum and Pompeii." A 

 large number of prints, lately published in Berlin, representing these 

 paintings, were exhibited. The paper was as follows : — 



"These pictures are sjDecirnens of a work lately published at 

 Berlin, containing nearly one hundred plates of copies of wall paint- 

 ings of Pompeii and Herculaneum. The ancients did not know our 

 cheap manner of papering the walls of their dwelling houses, instead 

 of which they had the more substantial one of decorating them with 

 paintings al fresco, and after being excavated and properly cleaned 

 from dust and mud, these paintings have preserved the brilliancy of 

 their colours, and appear as having just been finished from the hand of 

 the painter. It is very interesting to see here what Art was 

 eighteen centuries back in merely provincial towns of the great 

 Roman empire, and what it can do now in coloured printing. 



" A Girl Writing. — Very likely the portrait of a Pompeian beauty. 

 She is thoughtfully pausing, and we do not know whether she intends 

 writing poetry or a letter of love on her wax tablets. 



" Narcissus at the Fountain. — The beauty of the Thespian youth, 

 sitting at the edge of the fountain, languishing with love and silently 

 consuming with an inward fire, is too simple and evident at the first 

 glance to require more particidar remark. The fable of his having 

 conceived a passion for himself, and dying of love for the reflection 

 in the water of his own image, from which he could meet with no 

 response, is also well-known. 



" Dancing Girls. — This picture contributed very much to spread 

 the fame of ancient painting. It has been copied a thousand times, 

 and at Naples, at a certain period, the house decorators were only 

 employed in making copies of these dancers. Thus it was that the 

 seductive Lady Hamilton, of unhappy memory, could revive this art. 

 The custom of dancing at revels and banquets passed over from the 

 degenerated Greeks to the Romans. 



" Achilles giving wp Briseis. — This may be said to be one of the 

 most celebrated pictures that has been discovered in later days, and, 



