ROYAL IRISH ACADEMY. 
223 
His will left full powers to the Academy to dispose of his bequest 
according to such rules as the Council might, from time to time, enact, 
for the encouragement of learning in Ireland, by offering Prizes for 
Essays on certain subjects, or giving rewards to distinguished authors; 
and accordingly, different plans have, at different times, been adopted. 
The first plan was that of giving Prizes for the best Essay on a sub¬ 
ject proposed by the Academy. 
This was soon afterwards altered, and “ The Cunningham Gold Medal” 
was instituted instead of a pecuniary prize. 
These Medals were for some time given for papers published in the 
Transactions of the Academy, hut this plan was objected to as nar¬ 
rowing too much the field of competition, and diminishing in proportion 
the honour of the reward. 
Accordingly, in the year 1848, the plan now in operation was insti¬ 
tuted. It is as follows:— 
1. All works or Essays, in the departments of Science, Polite Lite¬ 
rature, or Antiquities, which shall he published in Ireland, whether in 
the “ Transactions of the Academy” or not, or which shall relate to Irish 
subjects, may he considered as competing for the Medal. 
2. The Council shall award Medals every third year, and shall then 
take into consideration all papers or works coming under this descrip¬ 
tion, which have been published within the six years preceding. 
3. Money premiums shall, from time to time, he given for Essays 
or Reports on stated subjects. 
This last regulation has never as yet been acted upon, the fund at 
the disposal of the Council having been found too small to enable them 
to carry out both objects ; this is the more to be regretted, as it is evi¬ 
dent that the Medals given in accordance with the first and second rules 
do not produce or encourage new researches, hut only reward those 
authors who had laboured independently, and whose works would have 
been published, whether any such Medals had been given or not. 
But besides this, our Medals are, in my opinion, open to a still greater 
objection, owing to the fact that they are of gold, and that they are all 
struck from the same die. A gold medal is necessarily unique: it is 
locked up in a strong box during the lifetime of its owner, and at his 
death it is, in many cases, disposed of for the value of the gold, by his 
executors or his heir. A gold medal, therefore, does not spread the fame, 
either of the individual who receives it, or of the Academy by whom it 
is given. But the Gold Medal of the Academy is objectionable on another 
ground: in that it contains nothing to indicate either the person to whom 
it was awarded, or the reason why it was given to him. The Medals are 
all from the same die, whether they are given for the advancement of 
science, or for classical learning, or for the promotion of archaeological 
knowledge,—and if one of them were stolen or lost, there is nothing to 
indicate to whom it once belonged. 
I am, therefore, very much disposed to prefer the plan suggested 
many years ago, I believe in 1839, by Dr. Aquilla Smith. The main 
features of this plan are, that the Medal should be of copper, bearing on 
