Your Society has now had "a local habitation, 

 and a name," for thirteen years; during which 

 period, the pecuniary resources for furnishing 

 your Museum, and for providing suitable glass 

 cases for preserving the specimens, have unfor- 

 tunately been very small, amounting generally 

 to little more than was required for paying the 

 rent, the Subcurator's salary, and such trifling 

 incidental expenses as the limited sphere of its 

 operations rendered necessary ; and had it not 

 been for the peculiar local advantages which we 

 possess, for procuring those rich and gigantic 

 fossil treasures, with which our district abounds, 

 and the zeal and liberality of its members and 

 friends, especially its maritime friends, in for- 

 warding donations from all parts of the World, 

 your Museum never could have attracted the 

 attention, nor excited the interest of the scientific, 

 the learned, and the curious, which the signatures 

 in the Introduction Book sufficiently attest. 

 It must be a source of satisfaction to every mem- 

 ber of the Society to reflect, that he has assisted 

 in preserving objects on which the eye of the 

 scientific traveller has dwelt with delight, and 

 the pencil of the artist been exercised with profit ; 

 and which, but for your care, would in all proba- 

 bility have been utterly lost. Your stores of 

 curiosities have been augmented from year to 

 year by additional contributions, so that the 

 drawers and shelves of your Museum are literally 



