Journoux having been announced, a sum of money was granted for further researches in that vicinity; whereupon a member took occasion to deplore the want of municipal authority for preventing objects of antiquity from being dispersed among goldsmiths, &c., alluding particularly to the discovery of a jewel-box of some Gallo-Roman lady, containing collars of precious stones, a gold twisted bracelet, set with a head of the Empress Crispina, and cameos, medallions and coins, giving reason to believe that the place in which they were found was a Roman villa of the reign of Septimius Severus.
The Director then, addressing himself to the clergy around him, requested to know if in the diocese of Lyons any archæological lectures had been instituted, whereupon a member stated that the cardinal had already established a course at L'Argentiere, and a Society at Lyons, denominated "L'Institut Catholique," for the preservation and description of the general ecclesiastical monuments of that Society, and which he begged might be associated with the General French Society he was addressing; a request accorded with acclamation, and with an assurance that Government would gratefully recognise so powerful a means of moralizing such a class as the manufacturing population of the city of Lyons. It was then asked if there existed any work on the ancient inscriptions of Lugdunum, to which M. Commarmond replied that the work of the late M. Alard was in continuation by him preparatory to a course of lectures on the subject. M. Crespet having announced his discovery of the figure of a serpent-tailed cock, with the word "Basiliscus" over it, among some stones with zodiacal signs of the 12th century, immured in the tower of the church of St. Foy, the Director took occasion to recommend the taking of casts from all such ancient sculptures, so that the several archæological museums of Europe might interchange them one with another. M. Boilet then noticed a credence-table at Chasselay, and a description was given of a newly-discovered portion of the theatre at Lyons, the only Roman monument, except the aqueduct, now remaining in that city, urging the mayor to require notice of the discovery of any ancient substructure that may be discovered by the engineers now erecting the new fort, and to prevent any new houses from being built with Roman remains; all which he graciously promised, if possible, to do. M. Dupasquier then requested aid for repairing the Byzantine chapel of the castle of Chatillon, complaining of the occasional impediment to intelligent restoration by injudicious local authority, and the Abbé d' Avrilly begged to recommend to the mayor the removal of the shops disfiguring many of the churches in Lyons, In reply to a question whether the churches of Lyons were as much the victims of whitewash as elsewhere, a member begged to know whether such tinting as might harmonize new work with old was objectionable; to which M. de Caumont answered no, but only such trumpery colouring, which, pretending to imitate marble, carved wood, and Italian mouldings, so spoilt the true character of many churches, that their real mouldings could hardly be distinguished from the supposititious ones. He then enquired as to the usual mode of depicting Christ in country churches, and whether any gentleman had particularly
