71 



century. This work of Young is not mentioned by Sir 

 James Ware, nor does it appear to be at all known to Irish 

 writers. It is almost unnecessary to observe, that this latter 

 work has no relation with science, but its rarity is a suffi- 

 cient excuse for mentioning it here. 



" It will now be necessary to pass over nearly two cen- 

 turies before we meet with any traces of scientific progress. 

 Some time about the year 1600, William Farmer, ' Chirur- 

 gian and Practitioner in the Mathematical! Artes,' dwelt at 

 Dublin ; and among the manuscripts of Archbishop Tenison, 

 at Lambeth Palace, No. 816, is an autograph MS. by him, 

 entitled, ' A Prognosticall Almanack for this Bissextile yere, 

 1612, composed with a three fould Kallender generally cal- 

 culated for this Kingdom of Ireland, and will also serve very 

 well for alle the Northe and Northweste partes of England.' 

 William Bourne also, who flourished at the same time, and 

 greatly distinguished himself by his mechanical inventions, 

 was a native of Ireland. To these two we may add, Nathaniel 

 Carpenter, an Englishman by birth, but who resided in 

 DubUn early in the seventeenth century, and left behind him 

 treatises on geography and optics. A copy of this latter 

 work is still preserved in MS. in the Library of University 

 College, Oxford.* 



" With Molyneux, in more recent times, the science of 

 Ireland rose to a level with that of surrounding nations, and 

 the names Ponce, Boyle, Petty, and Ashe,t serve to fill the 

 complement of the seventeenth century. In January, 1684, 

 Molyneux succeeded in forming a Philosophical Society at 

 Dublin, on the plan of the Royal Society of London. The 

 first meeting of the Society took place on the 28th of Ja- 

 nuary, 1684, when Sir William Petty was chosen President, 



• Under the press mark L. 14. See Bernard's Catalogue, 1697, p. 5. 

 t Archbishop Ussher was the author of some treatises on sciences and their 

 history, more especially astronomy. 



