( 123 ) 

 SESSION 1858-1859. 



FRIDAY EVENING, NOVEMBER 8, 1868. 



PfiOFEssoE W. H. Hartey, M.D., F.R.S., F.L.S., M. R.I. A., 



Peesident, in the Chair. 



The Minutes of the previous Meeting having been read, were coib- 

 firmed and signed. The Secretary then read the following — 



REPOKT OP COUNCIL. 



Twenty years have now elapsed since the foundation of this Society, 

 and your Council, in returning into your hands the trust confided to it 

 last November, has much gratification in being able to announce to yon 

 that the Session now concluded has proved no exception in success to 

 the three or four immediately preceding it. 



In addition to the advantages secured to this Society by the posses- 

 sion of conmiodious meeting- rooms and museum, your members now 

 receive at the commencement of each Session a copy of the more impor- 

 tant Proceedings of your meetings, during the previous Session, in a con- 

 nected and convenient form — those Proceedings, as corrected by your 

 Secretaries, having previously appeared quarterly, and enjoyed the be- 

 nefit of the circulation of the ''Quarterly Journal of Science" among 

 most of the scientific institutes of the United Kingdom and the Conti- 

 nent, along with the proceedings of the other scientific institutions of 

 the metropolis, thereby rendering the discoveries, &c., brought before 

 your Society, known to the scientific world at large. 



The losses of members during the past year have been, of Ordinary 

 Members, two: J. P. Darley, Esq., and V. W. M'NaUy, Esq., by resig- 

 nation, the latter od his departure from Ireland ; and of Honorary Mem- 

 bers by death. Sir P. Crampton, Bart., M. D., elected in 1 838. Eleven Or- 

 dinary, one Associate, and four Corresponding Members have been elected 

 during the Session, so that the total gain to the Society has been four- 

 teen. Charles Spence Bate, F. L. S., of Plymouth, who has contributed 

 two papers to your Transactions, has been elected an Honorary Member. 

 Your Society thus now consists of fourteen Honorary, ninety-seven Or- 

 dinary, and thirty-four Associate and Corresponding Members. 



The donations during the year included several rare and type speci- 

 mens. An Irish specimen of the mute swan ( Cygnus olor) presented by 

 Lord Clermont, and a nearly perfect skeleton of the gigantic elk (Me- 

 gacero8 ffihemicus), presented by Bichard Bamewall, Esq., especially 

 call for notice. 



The steady progress of your Society for some Sessions past has at 

 length enabled your Council to pay oflf the old debt of £58, due to your 



T 



