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The sixth and concluding meeting of the session was held 

 in the Museum, College Square, on Tuesday evening, April 

 1 8th— the president, R. Young, Esq., C.E., in the chair— when 

 a paper was read by Mr. James J. Phillips, the subject being 

 " The Art Metal Works of Ancient Erin." He briefly called to 

 the remembrance of the meeting the peculiar primitive civili- 

 zation of the Scoto-Celts, and of their refined decorative genius, 

 or artistic faculty, of which there are ample evidences in the 

 vestiges of their works in the stone monumental crosses, and 

 in the ancient illuminated manuscripts, but particularly in the 

 numerous heirlooms which we have of their metal works ; ex- 

 quisite specimens of their handicraft in gold and in silver, in 

 bronze and in iron, to be seen in the collections of the Royal 

 Irish Academy in Dublin, as well as in various collections and 

 Museums in the kingdom. The subject naturally divided 

 itself into two departments — viz., the historical, and the descrip- 

 tive or technical. The first division only was taken up in a 

 popular form in this preliminary paper ; but the entire subject 

 was a very extensive and intricate one, and would resolve itself 

 into the following headings : — 



Chapter I — A brief review of such historical notices and 

 references in the reliable annals and national MSS. and literary 

 remains : — ist, as to the different metals of which the Scoto- 

 Celtic works are composed, and references to the modus ope- 

 randi in their manufacture : 2nd, ancient references to the ob- 

 jects, and native descriptions of them. 



Chapter II. — A tabulated list and description of a few of 

 the more remarkable objects of Scoto-Celtic metal work in 

 various museums and collections, giving dates and names of the 

 artists, and notes as to the materials used in their construction. 



Chapter III. —1 he division of Scoto-Celtic art into two 

 epochs, in which the genesis of the peculiar style may be traced. 

 1st. When under the influences of the pagan and earlier civi- 

 lisation ; 2nd. When under the influence of early Christian re- 



