The Sun.
London, England, 1866-06-27 00:00:00

Ethnological Society.

Yesterday evening the ordinary fortnightly meet-
ing of this society was held in their rooms, in St.
Martin's-place--Mr. John Crawfurd in the chair.
There were exhibited several well finished bronze
celts from Italy, and a long bronze sword found at
Wroxeter. Some of the celts were stated to have
been found in Pompeii, but Sir John Lubbock
threw doubt on the statement.

A paper on " Remarkable Archaeological Disco-
veries in Ireland," by Mr. Alfred Conwell, was read.
It consisted of an account of his recent examination
of 31 partially destroyed sepulchral cairns on the
Loughcrew hills, in the county of Meath, about two
miles distant from the town of Oldcastle. These re-
mains, which have hitherto escaped notice, were said
to surpass in magnitude, number, and quaint orna-
mentation anything of the kind yet discovered in
Western Europe. The internal arrangement of the
cairns is for the most part cruciform, the shaft re-
presenting the entrance passage, and termination of
the arms the small cists, from four to five feet
square, arranged round the central chamber, roofed
by overlapping flags, and the whole being sur-
mounted by a pyramid of loose stones. In the three
larger cairns the slabs measured from six to 12 feet.
The most common style of sculpturing on the in-
scribed chamber stones was punched work that had
been executed with metallic tools. Though there are
upwards of 100 of them, the decorations do not cor-
respond on any, and on the stones recently exposed
the cutting is quite sharp and distinct. No conjec-
ture was offered as to the date of these cairns. Many
of the figures are cut in circles with rays in imita-
tion of the sun. So far as the exploration has gone,
Mr. Conwell has laid bare 1,393 separate devices.
Some remarkable stone basins or urns were also
found, one of which is sft. 9in. long, and at its
broadest part 3ft. lin. It had been tooled and picked
with great care, and a raised rim was all round the
upper part. Among the numerous articles found in
the cairns were round stone balls of various colours,
measuring from tin. to 3in, in diameter, some of
them still polished ; a finely polished oval ornament
of jet, a white flint arrow-head, portions of a neck-
lace, a number of sea-shells, seven specimens of iron
(among which a punch with a chisel-shaped point),
and a leg of a compass. There were also found a
number of bronze ornaments, beads of glass and am-
ber, some rude pottery, consisting of broken urns, and
a unique collection of worked bone implements
amounting to upwards of 4,800. Of human re-
mains there were found several dozen of teeth, six
portions of jaws, 48 portions of skulls, but not one
in an entire state. Altogether upwards of 2,000
fragments of human bones were discovered, nearly
all of them charred and mixed with charcoal. Mr.
Conwell has not yet completed his researches, but
as far as he has gone his discoveries are among the
most startling and comprehensive of any made in
modern times.

In the discussion of the paper Sir John Lubbock,
Mr. Prideaux, Mr. Crawfurd, and Mr. Luke Burke
took part.

Sir J. LUBBOCK then read a paper "On the
Ancient Manufacture of Stone Implements at Fres-
signy," in France, and he exhibited a number of
large implements made from the flint peculiar to
that neighbourhood. They are found near the sur-
face in such great quantities that Sir J. Lubbock
conceives that place must have been an extensive
manufactory of such implements, and among the
specimens he exhibited were some left half finished,
owing to defects in the stone, and some lumps that
had served as nuclei for their manufacture. With-
out assigning any period to the manufacture of
these implements, he conceived, from the absence
of any remains of metal, that they were made before
either bronze or iron was known.

In the discussion that followed Mr. Crawfurd
and Mr. Prideaux took part, on the question whether
bronze or iron was first manufactured into imple-
ments.

Mr. CRAWFURD, on adjourning the meeting, said
that would not be the last, as originally intended'
and that at a supplemental meeting on the 10th of
July several interesting papers would be read'
among which would be a paper by Mr. Baker on a
tribe of negroes in Abyssinia who possess the re•
markable peculiarity for negroes of being indua'
trio us.

FELICIA'S DOWRY. By Mrs. Fitzmaurice Okedell'
3 vols.—The authoress of this novel is a new candidate for
public approval, and we venture to predict success'
'Fehcia's Dowry' is the work of a highly cultivated iniod.
The characters are well drawn, the language good, the itr
terest fully sustained, and the moral of the story excelleilt•
But the most graphic parts of the book are those in wLiich
the reader is introduced into aristocratic circles. Thef!,
the authoress is evidently quite at home, a fact not to
wondered at when we tell our readers that the writer 0'
'Felicia's Dowry' is nearly related to the noble translator
of Homer, and connected by marriage with the representr
tive of another old English earldom."—The Messenger.
DEATH OF Mn. JERWOOD.—The poorer row
bars of the dramatic profession have lost a friend by thaf
death of Mr. T. J. Jerwood, of Ely-place. He was one
°
the promoters and an active co-operator in the establi6l3-
ment of the Royal Dramatic College, in which he held the
post of treasurer until the time of his death.
TILE TITLE OF MAR.—The ancient title of MAT
now descends to a son of Mr. Goodeve, of Bristol,
the young gentleman being, we understand, a curate in the
Episcopal Church. But the title descends without el
estate, tho whole estates descending to the heir male, e°,
W. C. Erskine, Tillicoultry House, the cousin of the l''";
earl. The title of Mar descending to heirs whonisoas:
goes to Mr. Goodeve without an inch of ground to a_
port the honour. So much for the separation of the estate
and title. The late earl had, by great economy iiod b:
economical mode of living, redeemed the estates from lit
burdens, and accumulated large means, which, it ni'gor
have been supposed, would have been partly reserved f
ed ias
the heir of the title. But, strange to say, his lordship Litt,
bequeathed the whole of his personil means and effects. 0
the heir to the estates; and the sou of a deceased aistel.ns
the now departed earl becomes toheA possessordvertiser. of nothl
more than a barren honour.—Alloy
WRO's icOVE Doern ?—AtORISON'S RILLS.