Banquet at the University. 435 



the hot and cold blasts for iron-works; L. 105 for prosecuting 

 researches in British Fossil Ichthyology ; L. 50 for researches 

 into the absorbents ; L. 50 for examining the sounds of the 

 heart. 



Banquet at the University. — The Provost and Senior Fellows 

 of Trinity College gave a farewell banquet, of unequalled 

 splendour, in the evening, to three hundred members of the 

 British Association, in the examination hall of the University. 

 The Earl of Mulgra^e arrived at the College at six o'clock, 

 accompanied by his suite ; and, shortly after, Professor Hamil- 

 ton, to whom it had been previously intimated that his Excel- 

 lency was desirous to confer on him the honour of knighthood, 

 was called for. On conferring on the distinguished Professor 

 this honour, the Viceroy addressed him shortly, but gracefully 

 and eloquently, in the following terms : 



" This is an exercise of one of those prerogatives of royalty, of which 

 I am here the representative, most grateful to myself — most in unison, I 

 feel, with the wishes of that gracious Sovereign on whose behalf I act — » 

 most in accordance, I am equally persuaded, with the unanimous opi- 

 nions of that enlightened people for whose benefit all power is entrusted. 

 This act does not so much confer distinction, as place the royal, and 

 therefore national stamp upon that distinction, which has already been 

 acquired by personal qualifications and individual exertions. On all 

 these grounds, it is with the highest pleasure I now announce to you my 

 present intention, more particularly in connexion with this occasion, 

 where you fill a high official situation in that Association, as members of 

 which we are now here congregated — in the presence of foreigners by 

 birth, strangers to each other in social ties, who are nevertheless drawn 

 together by the irresistible attraction of mutual enlightenment. It is 

 from this brotherhood of knowledge that, as Ireland's Viceroy, I step 

 forward to claim you as her own, and to appropriate to the land of your 

 birth your distinguished reputation. And this I do, sir, because, apart 

 from every other consideration, I recognise in the expansion of intellect, 

 and the development of science, the surest sources of the eternal triumph 

 of truth." 



Saturday Evening. — Dr Barry gave an account of his ascent 

 to Mont Blanc. — Professor Babbage made some remarks upon 

 a whirlpool observed at the island of Cephalonia, through 

 which the sea has poured for forty years. He had applied to 

 Lord Nugent, the governor of Corfu, to know whether he was 

 acquainted with the fact, and that nobleman gave him a state- 

 ment upon the subject, which he would endeavour to report, 

 although, perhaps, not with sufficient accuracy, as he had not 

 taken notes at the time. A hole is seen between two rocks, and 

 an excavated channel conveys the sea-water into a pit, 100 yards 



