COUNCIL FOR 1857. 15 



design. As the British Association will meet this year in 

 Leeds, no doubt many of its members will pay a visit to its 

 birth-place ; and it is much to be desired that not only our 

 present collections should be in perfect order, but that the 

 additional rooms should be so far finished as not to offend the 

 eye by the appearance of incompleteness. The central room is 

 designed to receive the Ichthyosaurus platyodon and the other 

 Saurian remains, in which our Museum is so rich ; while the 

 two smaller apartments and the galleries will afford the means 

 of more conveniently displaying our present specimens and of 

 receiving the additions of many future years. 



The account which has been given of the operations of the 

 Society during 1857 will show that it has been a year of large 

 expenditure. The expenses of the alterations in the upper 

 room of the Hospitium, with the laying down of the pavement ; 

 of the repairs of the Observatory ; of the construction of the 

 Aquarium ; and of putting the house at the gate into tenantable 

 condition, and compensating a former tenant for fixtures and 

 other things, have amounted to upwards of £230. There has 

 been at the same time the loss of a year's rent on the house ; 

 the Exhibition at Manchester has directed the stream of tourists 

 and excursion trains in that direction, and reduced the receipts 

 at the gate ; no profit has been received from the Horticultural 

 Exhibition, nor from the hire of the tent. But, on the other 

 hand, the number of subscribers has been increased, and 

 several compositions for annual subscriptions have been re- 

 ceived in 1857 ; so that there is a small balance in favour of 

 the Society. The present number of Subscribing Members, 

 independently of Lady Subscribers and Associates, is 376, and 

 it is evident that if this number can be maintained the Society 

 has in itself the elements of permanent prosperity. 



The late Earl Fitzwilliam had held the ofiice of our President 

 since the year 1831, in which capacity he presided at the 

 establishment of the British Association in that year. The 

 monthly meeting of October last recorded its sense of his 

 eminent public and private virtues, and of the honour and 

 benefit the Society had derived from his long tenure of that 

 office. In this sentiment the present meeting will no doubt 



