1*93-94.] 97 



between the North and South, and in this respect he considered 

 the Club to be doing good work. S. F. Milligan, M.R.I. A., 

 supported the motion, which was conveyed by the President 

 and suitably acknowledged by Mr. Coffey. 



The following new members were then elected : — W. Faren, 

 Chas. W. M'Minn, and George D. Burtchaell, M.A., M.R.I.A. : 

 Miss Lamb, Miss Johnston, and Miss Harkness. 



An extra meeting under the auspices of the Celtic Class was 

 held on the 17th April, the President in the chair. P. J. 

 O'Shea, Member, who had kindly conducted the class during 

 the Session, read the programme for the evening in Irish (a 

 copy of the programme is subjoined), and afterward submitted 

 the following report. 



This class was conducted by me during the Session that has 

 ended. The students, whose numbers varied from 16 to 20, 

 met on Mondays at 8 p.m. in the Museum, and made consider- 

 able progress. 



T. Ward, Member, then read an extract from the Irish 

 translation of Homer. 



J. St. Clair Boyd, M.D., Member, then read the following 

 paper on the Irish Language : — 



The various claims put forward as to the origin of the Irish 

 language need not be discussed in a paper such as this. How- 

 ever, the following extracts from a work on this subject, 

 published this year in Edinburgh, under the title " Eire Ard 

 Inis na Righ," may prove of interest. 



" There is ample testimony from classical writers of antiquity 

 that Ireland was known, and that it was inhabited by people 

 possessing a civilisation, not greatly inferior to that of the 

 eastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea, many centuries before 

 the Christian era. In the 6th century b.c., a poem, ascribed to 

 Onomacritus, makes mention of Iernis (Ireland), without 

 mentioning the larger Island of Britain ; and it is not unlikely 



