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Minutes of the Academy. 
Various improvements have been introduced in different parts of 
the Academy's House, particularly in the Council Room, the Office, and 
the residence of the Curator. 
Important work continues to be carried on, under the supervision of 
the Librarian, in the department of Irish Manuscripts. 
The arduous task of reproducing the Leabhar Breac " has been suc- 
cessful^ completed by Mr. O'Longan, the work being collated throughout 1 
by Mr. O'Looney. The volume extends to 262 pages, mostly in double 
columns, in close and small writing. To render the publication at 
complete as possible, it has been deemed desirable to append to it 
copies of some manuscript leaves in our collection which have always 
been considered to have formed part of the Leabhar Breac " before 
the latter came into the possession of the Academy. A portion of 
these is already in process of being lithographed. Some of them are in 
bad condition, discolored and obscure, and, if they were not now copied, 
it is probable that in a few years the greater part of them would be 
illegible. 
The arrangements for the production of an edition of the Book of 
Leinster," by the joint action of the Academy and of Trinity College, 
have been concluded, and the work has been commenced. From spe- 
cimens of it now before you there is every reason to expect that it will 
be carried out satisfactorily. 
An edition of some of the most interesting Ancient Irish Historical 
Tales, with translations, has been commenced, and will be published 
uniformly with the Irish MSS. series. The first of these Tales, the 
Tain Bo Cuailgne, will appear, it is hoped, in the course of the present 
year. It will be edited by Dr. W. K. Sullivan, and the translation 
will be the joint work of that gentleman and Mr. O'Looney. 
The Academy is in possession of 1.34 photographic negatives of 
Ogham inscriptions, representing about eighty different texts. It is 
intended to print these in autotype, and thus to present to inquirers in 
this curious branch of study authentic copies of considerably more 
than half the whole number of such inscriptions known to exist. 
They will be accompanied by short notices, strictly limited to a state- 
ment respecting the localities where the inscriptions were found, and 
other matters of fact respecting them : the philological discussion and 
interpretation of them being left to the free competition of scholars. 
Among the presentations made to the Library during the past year 
is a set, in fifty- two volumes, of the publications of the Academy of 
Sciences of Lisbon. "We have also acquired the valuable transcript of 
the "Annals of Ulster," made by the late Professor O'Curry, and col- 
lated in part by the late John O'Donovan, LL.D. 
The registration of the contents of the Library has been continued. 
Arrangements have been made for placing some of the most valuable 
manuscripts in the fire-proof room. We have again called the atten- 
tion of the Board of Works to the defects in the heating of the Library, 
and the consequent injury received by the books, as well as the danger 
to the health of members or officers, who may have occasion to remain 
