Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 8.djvu/569

APvCIIAEOLOOICAL INTKLMOENCK. 43.'j of a suitable National Museum for Scotland, smli an arcliapoln^'istH view with so much advantage at Copenhagen, Dublin, and various citie« on the continent, will be deposited in the Royal Institution, where the proccodingn of the society will also be transacted. For this very desirable arrani^cniont archaeologists arc indebted mainly to the persevering exertions of Sir W. Gibson Craig, whose zeal in the cause cluims most honourable mmtiun. The Society's Museum is already rich in examples of every period, of which an interesting catalogue has been prepared by the able pen of the secretar}', Mr. Daniel Wilson ; and having now been placed on the iicrma- nent footing of a National Cdllection, it may be confidently anticij>atid that many treasures hitherto isolated in private collections, will find therein a secure depository. Amongst the subjects brought before the meeting were the renowned Dunvegan cup, commemorated in the " Lord of the Isles ; " a more correct reading of the inscription upon this remarkable relic was suggested. Two very ancient ecclesiastical bells were produced, of hammered iron, specimens of the curious class, the Irish skellach, illustrated by Mr. Westwood in the " Archa)ologia Cambrensis." A detailed archaeological map of Fifeshire, by Mr. Miller, excited considerable interest, and it is hoped that it may be published, forming the first of a series of antiiiuarian maps of Scotland. December 8. — Various donations were made to the Museum, including one of the ancient skellachs above noticed, presented by the Kev. J. Ilaldanc, minister of the parish where it was found. Dr. Wilson communicated a memoir on these curious relics, of which not fewer than fifteen had been traced, as connected with the earliest Christian establishments in Scotland. They had ever been regarded in that country, as also in Ireland, with a very singular degree of veneration, attached to no other class of ecclesiastical appliances. One of the most remarkable examples, fouiul in Argyllshire, is preserved in the Society's Museum ; and it was exhibited, by the kind permission of the Council, in the Museum formed during the meeting of the Institute at York, in 1846. Dr. Wilson gave some highly curious details illustrative of reverential attachment amongst the lower classes to these primitive vestiges of the introduction of Christianity in North Britain. Professor Munch of Christiania, honorary member, discussed the erroneous application of the name Pomona, as commonly used to designate the mainland of Orkney. He pointed out the fact that no such name appears in any ancient author by whom the Islands are mentioned ; and that its use has arisen from a singular misunderstanding of a passage in Solinus. Kilkenny Archaeological Society. — At the meeting on November. 5th, the ranks of the Society were augmented by the accession of thirty- one new members, a gratifying evidence of the growing interest in the proceedings of this efficient institution. The library and museum were enriched by numerous presents, especially a collection of Irish coins by the Archdeacon of Cashel. The Rev. James Graves called attention to a portion of the ancient hangings, formerly in the '* Tapestry Chamber," in a tower of Kilkenny Castle, and exhibited on this occasion by the Marquis of Ormonde. It represented the death-conflict of Decius, and formed part of a set of six, presented, according to tradition, to the first Duke of Ormonde, by the States of Holland, t. C'harles II. Mr. Graves produced also, by Lord Ormonde's permission, an interesting charter of Richard Strongbow, with his seal appended ; no other impression is known. The Rev. Mr. Mease gave a notice of a subterraneous cist, lately