THE COUNCIL. 



which was increased to supply copies for an extended distri- 

 bution of the Report,) and for other Incidents, would scarcely 

 have intrenched on the income of 1826, if the expectations 

 entertained with regard to the Lectures had been realized. 

 In 1824 the Lecture account left a balance of forty pounds in^ 

 favour of the Society : of the three courses delivered in the 

 last year,* the expenditure amounted to two hundred and forty- 

 three pounds, and the receipts to one hundred and ninety- 

 three, leaving a deficiency of fifty pounds, where a profit had 

 been expected. ^■ 



It is obvious, however, that on the account of the two years, 

 the Society's loss is inconsiderable ; and the Council have not 

 been discouraged by the present defalcation, from per- 

 severing in the employment of these means for the diffusion 

 of scientific information. The experiment of providing 

 Lectures for the public in this district is new, and, in the con- 

 duct of it, errors are at first unavoidable. Anxiety to reduce 

 the price of knowledge, occasioned the terms of admission to 

 be fixed at a rate unusually low ; the desire of extending the 

 opportunity ofinstruction to every class of Society, led to the 

 expense of evening repetitions of the two most practical - 

 Courses ; and circumstances not under the control of the 

 Council, produced the disadvantage of too prolonged a suc- 

 cession of Lectures. In the delivery of the Course at present 

 contemplated, little risk of loss is to be apprehended. The 

 natural history of the Organized and once animated Remains 

 of the Fossil World, is a subject eminently calculated to excite 

 the curiosity of inquisitive minds ; and the Council trust that 

 the success of Mr. Phillips's Lectures will shortly justify ; 

 the opinion which they still entertain, that talent and 



* On Geologj, on Natural Philosophy, and on Experimental Chemistry. 



