10 



amount of assistance they have derived from their own mem- 

 bers, they certainly would have been disposed to have defer- 

 red availing themselves of the services of distant individuals. 

 Tliere is, however, some satisfaction in reflecting that, 

 by the variety introduced into the literary and scientific 

 business of the Session, the tastes and pursuits of a large 

 number of members have been accommodated, and that little 

 additional expense has been incurred by the arrangement. 



In the months of November and December, a course of 

 twelve lectures on the principles of Chemistry, Electricity, 

 and Electro-Magnetism, was delivered by Messrs. West 

 and George. In the months of January and February, six 

 lectures on the Hieroglyphical Antiquities of Egypt were 

 delivered by Messrs. John Atkinson and Wm. Osburn, junrs. 

 whose attention had been first directed to that subject by an 

 examination of the valuable Mummies presented to your 

 Society. By the industry of these gentlemen, the modem 

 discoveries of Champollion and Young were applied, appa- 

 rently with considerable success, to the interpretation of 

 the inscriptions covering the cases of those remarkable relicfe. 

 A course of lectures on the curious doctrines of Phre- 

 nology having been offered by Dr. Allen, and very urgently 

 solicited by several members, your Council conceived they 

 should act in conformity with the liberal views of the So- 

 ciety, by affording to those who felt interested in the inquiry, 

 an opportunity of investigating that much agitated subject. 

 Dr. Allen''s lectures were accordingly delivered in March, 

 and proved very attractive. 



In the months of April and May, Mr. M. T. Sadler 

 delivered a course of public lectures on the Poor Laws of 

 England, constituting a defence of their principle in opposition 

 to the views of some modem political economists. It was 

 at first announced that Mr. Sadler's course would be comprised 

 in three lectures, but, the subject expanding in the course of 

 investigation, he was induced to extend it to eight, including 

 twt) which weregiven in the form of papers at General Meetings. 



