COUNCIL FOR 1859. 9 



appeared to be rapidly hastening to decay, — so rapidly, in 

 fact, that, independently of its being the duty of the Society to 

 watch with the most jealous care over the preservation of these 

 interesting monuments of the past, considerable fears were 

 entertained, that unless something was done to stop the pro- 

 gress of dilapidation, the ruins might ere long become dangerous 

 to the visitors to the Gardens. Under these circumstances the 

 Council requested Mr. G. Fowler Jones to inspect the ruins, 

 and report upon their condition. That gentleman found that 

 in many places the mortar had been completely washed out 

 from between the stones, and that the grass and wall plants 

 growing in thejoints, however advantageous to the picturesque 

 effect of the ruins, were very injurious to their stability. The 

 roof of the Hospitium and the end wall of the upper room of 

 that building, were also stated to be in an unsafe condition, 

 and Mr. Jones recommended that the necessary repairs should 

 be executed without loss of time. The work was accordingly 

 performed under the superintendence of Mr. Jones, and it is 

 hoped that these interesting objects are now in a condition to 

 resist the elements for many years to come. The total expense 

 of these repairs was £41. 16s. 6d. 



The attention of the Council having been called to the bad 

 state of the Carriage way and of the Terrace in front of the 

 Museum, especially during wet weather, it was resolved in the 

 course of last summer to put them in a proper state of repair. 

 It was at first thought that a layer of asphalte applied over 

 the existing broken surface would have sufficed, but when this 

 was tried on the terrace, it was found that the inequalities of 

 the hard surface of the old asphalte were reproduced on the 

 new surface. It was therefore resolved that the carriage way 

 should be entirely broken up and relaid, and this has been 

 satisfactorily effected at an expense of £18. 



In accordance with the engagement mentioned in the last 

 year's report, Mr. Dew, of the British Museum, visited York 

 in the month of May, and devoted three weeks principally to 

 the development of the specimen of Plesiosaurus ZetlandicttSy 

 by clearing away the fragments of the matrix from the fossil, 

 wherever this was practicable. This was a task requiring the 



