Dec. 1847.] 337 



REPORT 



OP THE HBPvAEIAN 



For 1847. 



The Librarian is enabled on the present occasion to exhibit to the Society 

 a highly flattering statement of the existing condition of the Library, and to 

 congratulate the members on its rapid increase and the great additional value 

 which it has acquired during the year, and the peculiarly auspicious circum- 

 stances under which it has been placed since the last Annual Meeting. 



At that time, the Library occupied ranges of cases on either side of the large 

 Saloon or Hall in common with the collections of the Society. These accom- 

 modations were imperfectly adapted, either for a proper display of the Books, 

 or for sueh an arrangement of them as would afford easy and convenient re- 

 ference. Many of the cases were likewise greatly crowded, their contents in 

 consequence abused and injured, and in several instances it was necessary to 

 distribute works belonging to a particular department into cases at a consider- 

 able distance from each other. In addition, the want of proper daily ventila- 

 tion of the Hall in the summer season, and of regular warmth during the win- 

 ter, and the unavoidable exclusion of the members from the Library on those 

 days when the Hall was open to the public, were all serious obstacles to the 

 prosecution of study, on the very spot where, on the contrary, every facility 

 and advantage should be afforded. For the latter reasons especially, the 

 necessity of a separation of the Library from the Museum had been long felt 

 and acknowledged. Happily, through the spontaneous liberality of an indi- 

 vidual member, too favorably known among us to require to be named, the 

 Society has been enabled to remove all these objections and disadvantages, 

 and I have the pleasure this evening to present this report in a new apart- 

 ment, expressly designed for the purpose of a Library and Meeting room, and 

 possessing every convenience that could be desired. 



The removal of the books from the Hall to this room was commenced in 

 the latter part of April, and their arrangement in the cases was completed 

 about the close of the following month. In the arrangement, the principal 

 object has been to facilitate access to those works likely to be in most re- 

 quest, and accordingly the different departments of Natural History occupy 

 cases on the floor of the Library, commencing with general Natural History, 

 and followed by Botany, Conchology, Geology, Ornithology, &c. The remain- 

 ing cases on the floor contain Anatomy and Physiology, the Journals, and the 

 large and valuable collection of works on Antiquities and the Fine Arts. On 

 the gallery, are the various Dictionaries of Arts and Sciences and Encyclo- 

 paedias, Physical Science and Chemistry, History, Voyages and Travels, 

 Biography, &c. 



By a late regulation of the Society, the Librarian is required to be in at- 

 tendance at the Library daily during a part of the forenoon, and in the after- 

 noon his place is supplied by the Chairman of the Curators. 



From these measures the happiest effects have already resulted, and have 

 fully equalled expectation. Beside the greater protection necessarily afforded 

 to the Library by a constant and daily supervision of it, they have tended, per- 



