February 21, Mr. Hawthorn presented the following Report from the Committee of Agriculture:

"The Committee of Agriculture, to whom was referred on the 24th ult. the letter of Mr. Alexander Kinmonth, and the documents connected therewith, claiming on the part of Colonel Close, two premiums offered by the Society in February last, for the erection of the greatest number of cottages, and for the allocation of land thereto, having investigated these claims, and having had a communication with Colonel Close thereupon, who has fully confirmed and certified the facts as set forth in Mr. Kinmonth's letter, are of opinion, that Colonel Close is entitled, under the list of premiums held out by the Society, to receive the Gold' Medal for each of the two objects set forth in No. 4 and No. 5, "The Committee cannot omit the opportunity of congratulating the Society and the public, on the patriotic and praiseworthy example set by Colonel Close to the landed proprietors of Ireland, towards ameliorating the condition of their tenantry, by providing comfortable residences for them.

"The Committee have further to report, that they have considered the expediency of renewing the offering of premiums proposed last year by the Society for the above and several other objects of general utility, and they recommend to the Society to sanction the same, with the exception of the second premium.

"C. STEWART HAWTHORNE,
"Chairman."

"To the proprietor or tenant in Ireland who shall report the most successful experiment in laying down a field to permanent pasture, not being less than five English or statute acres, and which shall afford the best combination of the finer grasses, for giving a renewed succession of plants in proportion to the advance of the season,

The Gold Medal, or Ten Sovereigns. "The land which is the subject of the experiment, must have been pastured for at least one season, exclusive of that in which the report is given in, and a certified account must be transmitted of the kinds and quantity of the grass seeds sown. The nature of the soil must also be stated particularly, and the expenses accurately detailed.

already built on an improved construction, for the accommodation and promoting the comforts of the labouring poor, a quantity of land less than one Irish acre. The Gold Medal. "It is not intended to prescribe any specific form of building or materials, only the covering to be of slates, if they can be procured at a reasonable price.

"The competitors must furnish the Society with the plans, surveys, estimates, and accounts of expenditure, together with a certificate signed by at least one of its Members, the clergymen of the dif ferent religious persuasions, or some of the resident gentlemen, setting forth their personal examination of the cottages, when finished, the manner in which the work has been executed, and their fitness to promote the comfort and health of the inhabitants.

FIFTH PREMIUM.

Quantity of Land required to Support a Labourer's Family, and enable him to keep a Cow.

"For the best account founded on actual experience in Ireland, of the quantity of land of an average quality which would be required to supply a labourer's family, consisting of two grown persons and two children, with all necessary culinary vegetables, including potatoes, to enable him to keep a pig or two, and likewise maintain a cow all the year round. The Gold Medal. "See Martin Doyle's Hints to Small Farmers,' Allen on Home Colonies,' and Cobbett's Cottage Economy.'"

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February, 28, The following letter from Mr. Professor Davy was read:

Royal Dublin Society's Laboratory. "DEAR SIR-I beg you will acquaint the Royal Dublin Society, that the Corporation of Tallow Chandlers and Soap Boilers of Dublin, recently requested me to make some comparative experiments on the Soaps imported into Ireland, and the Soaps of home manufacture, with a view to assist the Corporation in investigating the causes of the present ruinous state of the Irish Soap Manufacture, and, if possible, to procure legislative relief. Being anxious to render every assistance in my power to the Manufactures of this country, I immediately commenced those experiments, (which will be made at no expense to the Society,) and I have made conside

rable progress in them, and I purpose, with the concurrence of the Society, to finish them forthwith, as the results are wanted to lay before the Government. The subject of the Irish Soap Manufacture has just been before Parliament, and is shortly expected again to come under the consideration of the Legisla

ture.

"I remain, dear Sir,

"Your's faithfully,

"EDMUND DAVY.

"Edward Hardman, Esq., &c. &c. &c."

March, 7, The following report of the Committee of Botany was read :

"The Committee of Botany have to report that the Hydraulic Ram, lately erected at the Botanic Garden, is now complete, and that an ample supply of water is conveyed by it, from the River, to a Reservoir, formed for its reception, in the neighbourhood of its Conservatories and Hothouses; that a plan and estimate have been laid before the Committee, by Mr. J. M. D'Olier, one of its members, for the erection of an Ornamental Fountain, in the centre of the Reservoir, which the Committee conceive would not only be highly conducive to the improvement and beauty of the Garden, but would be of the utmost importance, in bringing water into the Houses for the supply of the Plants, without the necessity of opening doors. The expense of this would not much exceed £30. They beg to recommend to the Society to empower the Committee to have the same executed on the most reasonable terms: and if they shall be pleased to approve of the recommendation, the Committe request that a sum of £35 may be placed at their disposal for the same.

"JOSEPH CLARKE, Chairman." The Assistant Secretary having announced to the Vice-President in the chair, the lamented death of their highly talented and esteemed Professor of Mineralogy and Keeper of the Museum, Sir Charles Giesecké, which melancholy event took place in the afternoon of Tuesday last very suddenly.

Resolved-That the Society do express, by placing the same on the Minutes of their Proceedings, their sincere sorrow at the loss they have thus sustained, and the high sense they entertain of the long-tried talents, as a Scientific Professor, and the amiable manners and chararcter, as a gentleman, of the late Sir Charles Giesecké.

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The powers of good and evil appear to be engaged in mortal conflict in these Islands. The latter, although naturally inferior in strength, has nevertheless by its superior industry and unwearid perseverance prevailed against its more powerful enemy. Yet, notwithstanding those partial victories and the mischiefs they have done cannot look upon the conflict without feeling some degree of pleasure. The allies of evil, indeed, appear to have gained a signal and enduring advantage by their late triumphs, by one of which they almost destroyed the constitution, and by the other they fondly imagine that they have overwhelmed the church. But we confidently trust that their hopes are unfounded, and that their conquests will not be of long endurance. The friends of peace and order and humanity have been violently roused from their repose, and we already see them advancing with superior force and equal activity to meet and conquer their implacable foes. From the immense powers now entrusted to the populace of these kingdoms, and from the quickness and freedom with which statements and arguments, whether true or false, whether in favour of good or evil, are disseminated through the country, there remain now no means of success for any party but through the instrumentality of the populace, and no means of acquiring the possession of those instruments except by appealing to their feelings to their understandings or their consciences.

For a long time the enemies of peace and order have been unremitting in their endeavours to mislead the minds and cor

rupt the hearts of the lower classes, and in their pernicious exertions have met with no opposition, except from the feeble and ineffectual forces of law and criminal prosecutions. But no pains, or comparatively little, were taken to unteach what they had taught, and to leave no room if possible for the most destructive errors, by pre-occupying the minds of the people, and bringing home to their understanding, the strong and simple arguments in favor of the most useful and important truths. The lovers of truth and justice were too often disgusted by the bigotry and narrow-mindedness of those who were opposed to them. They forget that many of the followers, and even of the advocates of falsehood were on that side, only because truth had never been clearly presented to their eyes. Unfortunately overlooking this plain consideration, they trusted to the law as if it were an effectual or the only means of preventing the mischief, which the spread of delusive doctrines had a tendency to occasion. The unfair temper and unwillingness to hear arguments contrary to their present opinions, which the people generally exhibit on occasions of public debate, were too often deemed a sufficient reason to abstain from them, on the specious grounds that it is to no purpose to argue with men who will not treat you fairly and who are determined not even to listen to any arguments in favor of the opinions, which at the time they chance to consider as erroneous, or hostile to their interests. But even this disposition in the people, how ever unfair it certainly is, and prejudicial to the cause of truth, is now justly considered as itself a delusion and among those mistaken opinions which may the most easily be removed by force of argument.

It ought not, surely, be difficult to persuade the people of the prudence and the necessity of their hearing with indifferent and attentive minds every side of the question, where their own good is the subject of enquiry, and they themselves the final and absolute judges of the debate. The attempt to stifle argument by clamour was, perhaps, not unnatural in those who could not otherwise influence the debates or decrees concerning their most vital interests. But this cause of prejudice has been removed, and let us entertain a hope that this impediment to the progress of truth is fast wearing away, and that the labours of those who are endeavouring to enlighten the minds of the people to a true sense of their real interests, will not be utterly ineffectual. The march of knowledge, though sure and unremitting, is indeed slow. It is not immediately that truth reaches the understanding of the vulgar. Their teachers, or perhaps the teachers of these latter, become acquainted with important truths, mixed frequently with important error; gradually the falsehood yields to the force of the opposing arguments, and the truth becomes familiarly known, and even reckoned among the most obvious principles, by the class which a short time before looked upon it as a paradox, or at least, a suspicious novelty. Presently, by the force of example, and the natural communications of thoughts and opinions, it descends a scale lower among the people, and by the influence of authority and education, becomes known to those who would have been unable to comprehend the arguments by which it was originally defended or opposed. It appears almost self-evident to those to whom it is early taught, and thus, in the course of a few years, those truths become familiarly recognized and known by all, which a short time before could scarce ly have found a single supporter. It is therefore, we conceive, no serious objection to the utility of books intended most for the instruction of the labouring poor, to say, that it is unlikely that any number of them will ever learn or read them. The same end will be as effectually, though more slowly obtained, if they communicate knowledge to those who are the natural instructors of the labouring classes, and who are in constant communication with them.

Such considerations give a value in our eyes to the books whose names are prefixed to this article which they might not otherwise possess. All works on those subjects, for the instruction of those who

have been hitherto uneducated, we regard as statements and arguments addressed to such as are henceforward to be the rulers of our destiny. Of these, the one_entitled "Conversations on Political Economy, by John Hopkins," appears to us to be the best, as containing the greatest portion of useful information, unmixed with much error. It commences by a story, which we think had better be omitted, as it adopts a form of instruction which, in our opinion, is very ill calculated to impart a knowledge of controverted truth. In it, John Hopkins, described as a poor labourer, with a large family of children, is supposed to apply to a Fairy for assistance, and to attribute all his want to the luxuries of the rich. He makes the plausible complaint that in order to gratify the rich with luxuries, the poor are debarred almost from the necessaries of life. To give John Hopkins a practical proof of the fallacy of his opinions, the fairy consents by a stroke of her wand "to destroy all luxuries whatever." The first effect which John perceives from this important change is that "his wife's best cotton gown is turned to a homely stuff," her china teapot into crockery-ware, his children's play things into dry sticks, fit only to be burnt." To take time to turn over the subject, and to console himself for his disappointment, he called for his pipe; but being a luxury it was also gone. pacify him his wife offers him a pinch of snuff, but his box is, of course, empty; snuff, "the luxury," is not there. He then admits that he was a fool not to desire the Fairy to meddle with the luxuries of the rich only. He will, therefore, on her next visit beg her to make an exception in favour of the poor. The consequences of the innovations made by the Fairy wand are shortly displayed. John's relations, who were engaged in the manufacture of various articles of luxury, are turned out of employment; John himself, who worked as a labourer in the field, and thought that he was in no danger of being thrown out of work, as corn and hay are not luxuries, receives a visit from the landlord on whose estate he worked. The landlord informs him that he means to turn his land into a sheep-walk, or let it lie uncultivated, as half the produce of the land will be sufficient for him in the new style of living, which he and his family are obliged to adopt. Poor John is now convinced of his error and reduced to despair. He hastens to the Fairy and implores her to reverse the fatal decree, and to bring

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