THE COUNCIL. 13 



and able services of Mr. Pritchett have been of the utmost 

 consequence, both to the execution and economy of the 

 work. He has devoted much of his valuable time to the 

 meetings of the Committee, and has given his gratuitous 

 advice and superintendence on every occasion on which his 

 judgement and experience could be useful." 



From this Report, then, it appears that the expenses 

 incurred by the Society amount to nearly 9800/. The fund 

 which is available to answer that demand is about 8300/., 

 thus leaving a debt of 1500/. ; a debt which will undoubtedly 

 prove a heavy incumbrance, if means cannot be devised for 

 paying it off. In the present state of our annual income, we 

 may indeed defray the interest of such a debt, and still go on. 

 — But let the meeting consider in what manner we shall go 

 on, as respects the character and utility of the Institution. 

 We may go on — giving a salary of sixty pounds a year to the 

 Keeper of the Museum : and would any member of the 

 Society wish to retain his services on such inadequate terms i 

 We may go on— but with an unfurnished Laboratory, and a 

 Library to which the naturalist or the antiquary would refer 

 in vain. We may go on — but we must leave to others to 

 explore, even in our own county, the mysteries of nature, 

 and to collect the monuments of art. 



The Society, in short, is not insolvent, but it is deeply 

 embarrassed ; and the effect of that embarrassment upon it at 

 present is this, that it is compelled to be parsimonious in 



