40 



searches, and may have settled the question as to their original 

 use, I shall not be surprised to find that I have been mistaken." 



Mr. William Gray then exhibited a very large collection of 

 Flint Implements, from France, Denmark, America, &c, and com- 

 pared them with our Irish forms. The square-sided celts and 

 gouges of Denmark, and the beautiful flint daggers, differ most 

 widely from the Irish forms, yet the style of clipping the flint was 

 quite similar. 



The exhibitor proved that, whatever may be the mode of chip- 

 ping the flint, the character of the work done depends more upon the 

 nature and peculiarity of the material than upon the manipulation. 



The Rev. John Scott Porter gave a very interesting account of 

 the Irish flint weapons, and exhibited a very fine series from his 

 private collection. Rev. James O'Laverty, P.P., contributed very 

 much to the interest of the evening by the manner in which he re- 

 ferred to the several points under discussion. 



On 26th January, a paper was communicated by Mr. R. W. 

 Armstrong, on " The Theory and Practice of the Ceramic Art, 

 as now carried on at Belleek." In the unavoidable absence of Mr. 

 Armstrong, the paper was read by Mr. A. O'D. Taylor. It gave 

 a brief historical outline of the ceramic art, as practised in various 

 countries, from the remotest period of which we have any record. 

 Statements in the Old Testament, extracts from Diodorus Siculus, 

 from Homer, and from Chinese chronicles, were given, showing 

 the antiquity of the art, and the high estimation in which it was 

 held. That branch termed " fine pottery" was specially noticed j 

 this includes, under the term " White ware," the compositions 

 known as Delf, Stoneware, and Porcelain. The first is a porous 

 bibulous body, which, only for the thin film of glass with which it 

 is covered as a glaze, would absorb fluid matter coming in contact 

 with it, until thoroughly saturated. The pottery now made in 

 Staffordshire has, however, a small portion of vitrifying matter 

 introduced into it. Stoneware, properly speaking, is a thoroughly 

 vitrified composition, not requiring any glaze to prevent absorption ; 



