54 



6th March, 1888. 



Profkssor E. A. Letts, Ph.D., F.R.S.E., F.C.S., in the Chair. 



S. F. Milligan, Esq., M.R.I. A., gave a Lecture on 



THE FORTS OF ERIN FROM THE FIRBOLG TO 



THE NORMAN. 



If the ancient annals of our country had been entirely lost, 

 and nothing to illustrate its former civilisations left but the 

 forts, castles, abbeys, churches, and sepulchral structures, there 

 could from these be constructed a sort of skeleton history of its 

 earliest inhabitants. Should we add to these, monuments, 

 weapons, ornaments of the person, and all the varied objects of 

 antiquarian interest stored in museums and private collections, 

 we could clothe our skeleton — I might say with flesh and blood 

 — and study with a tolerable degree of accuracy the social 

 habits and customs, and other interesting details of social life 

 of the people who once trod this land, just as the geologist 

 who from examining the fossil remains of plants and animals 

 found in a country can form a tolerably correct idea of its 

 ancient flora and fauna. The labours of the ethnologist and the 

 historian are closely blended with those of the archaeologist, and 

 modern science frequently steps in to the assistance of all. As 

 an illustration of the latter, I will . quote an instance where 

 science proves most conclusively the accuracy of the ancient 

 historian. In the annals of Ulster it is recorded that an eclipse 

 of the sun took place in Erin on the 3rd day of May, in the 

 year 664 a.d., at the tenth hour of the day. An astronomical 

 calculation has been made of the various past eclipses visible in 

 this country, and it has been ascertained, making allowance for 



