16 REPORT OF THE COUNCIL FOR 1850. 



Monastery in times anterior to the erection of the beautiful 

 Church, the ruins of which are now the chief ornament of our 

 gardens. 



The Admissions at the Gates have yielded the sum of 

 £212 7s. lOd. during 1850, exceeding the receipts of the pre- 

 vious year by £22 16s. 8d., being a greater sum than has ever 

 been derived from the same source in any previous year ; and 

 it is of importance to know that the ordinary income of the 

 Society, during 1850, has more than equalled its expenditure of 

 every kind, ordinary as well as extraordinary, by the sum of 

 £54 10s. 5d., notwithstanding that, owing to unexpected 

 circumstances already noticed, one source of revenue has been 

 less productive than usual. 



Such is the history the Council are enabled to lay before 

 this meeting, not without hope of its affording many grounds 

 of congratulation. 



To the increased attractions of the gardens, to the acquisition 

 of many valued additions to the collections, and to the number 

 of admissions at the Gate during the year 1850, (evincing as the 

 Council trust a gradually increasing appreciation of the peculiar 

 objects to which this and similar Institutions are devoted,) the 

 Council point with pleasure ; while in the improved financial 

 position of the Society, a prospect is opened of extending its 

 efforts towards the promotion of antiquarian pursuits, and of 

 adding to the facilities of acquiring information already afforded 

 to the student and lover of Natural History, by the varied 

 objects of interest and admiration displayed in the Museum. 



