The Council regret to observe, that with 

 regard to scientific Essays, this year has been 

 as unproductive as the year preceding. The 

 only article of this kind to record, is an Essay 

 on the History of the Kingdom of Northum- 

 bria, as illustrated by the Saxon Stycas lately 

 discovered at Hexham, read August 29th, by 

 the Rev. G. Young, A. M. It was expected, 

 that Essays on Railroads, and other scientific 

 improvements of the age, would have been 

 brought forward ; but these are yet reserved 

 for another year. In the mean time, it is 

 pleasing to remark, that the grand under- 

 takings, noticed in the close of last year's 

 Report, — the new Bridge over the Esk, and 

 the Railroad from Whitby to Pickering, — 

 have now commenced, with promising ap- 

 pearances of success. These works, so im- 

 portant to the interests of commerce and 

 public accommodation, will naturally tend 

 to promote the objects of our Institution. 

 Such practical illustrations of the triumphs 

 of science, exhibited to our view, must needs 

 give an impulse to scientific pursuits, and 

 excite the youthful mind in particular, to the 

 cultivation of philosophy and the useful arts. 

 Let us hope that, while such a stimulus is 

 presented, the energies of this Society will 

 not lie dormant another year, in regard to 



