1^ 



one since the foundation of your Society. They are 

 seventeen in all, exclusive of the able Essay read this 

 morning", on the Alum Works near Whitby, by 

 Thomas Richardson, Esq. The Lectures, and read- 

 ing of the Essays, were, for the most part, attended 

 by select and respectable parties, thout^h not always 

 so large as might be expected. As to the merits of 

 the Lecturers and Essayists, it would be invidious to 

 descend to particular praise, when all have deserved so 

 well. Your Council would therefore fain cherish the 

 hope, that the spirit of emulation, so laudably excited 

 to raise the character of youi Institution, will not be 

 suffered to languish through the apathy of Members 

 themselves; but that those gentlemen, who have given 

 proofs of talents, industry, and research, will receive, 

 as an inducement to further exertiou, due encourage- 

 ment from your Society; whose duty it is more par- 

 ticularly to co-operate cheerfully with such as are 

 both able and willing, to make your Listitution a 

 powerful engine for promoting the cause of sci- 

 ence. The zeal and interest tluis manifested, 

 cannot fail to procure in time the assistance of 

 many others of our respectable townsfolk^, upon 

 whose patrc^nage your Society has certainly strong 

 claims; for to support an Listitution like ours, 

 seems to be strictly the duty of those whom Provi- 

 dence has blessed with the abundance of earthly 

 goods; that, bequeathing to their children the patri- 

 mony of wealth, they may leave an inheritance of far 

 more permanent, and still greater value to its pos- 

 sessors — a taste for scientific pursuits, and a deep 

 interest in the diffusion of knowledge; that thus 



