THE COUNCIL. 9 



Before they proceed to financial statements, the Council 

 think it right to inform the Meeting, that whatever expenses 

 have been incurred by the scientific and antiquarian Com- 

 mittees, in the prosecution of the duties devolved upon them, 

 they have been defrayed by themselves without any charge to 

 the Society ; and further that it is by means of a subscription 

 among the Members, which however is not yet complete, that 

 the cost of the Observatory is to be provided for ; and that 

 such additions to the Library and the Garden as come not 

 within the lists of donations presented at the monthly Meet- 

 ings, have been made. Such instances of unabating zeal and 

 warm attachment, on the part of the Members, is a gratifying 

 proof of the real strength of the Society ; yet it cannot fail to 

 excite a feeling of deep regret that the interest upon the 

 building debt, though partially diminished by the £50. loans, 

 should exhaust nearly all the surplus of the annual income, 

 and thus render the Society so much dependent upon the 

 liberality of individual Members, for the accomplishment of 

 objects which ought to be provided for from the common 

 stock. 



It has not been found practicable by the most rigid economy 

 that unexpected circumstances admitted, and the general 

 interest and character of the Institutioji would justify, to save 

 from the income of the past year more than ^3. During that 

 period seventeen new Members have been elected, and their 

 admission fees have been applied to the diminution of the 

 debt. On a scrutiny of expenses incurred during the year, by 

 repairs of the building, the completion of the garden, prepara- 

 tion of specimens, and consumption of gas, it appears possible 

 that the annual expenditure may be decreased by about £25. 

 and the Society may stiU go on, trusting for the extinction or 

 at least the diminution of the debt, to the fluctuating admission 

 of new Members, and deferring to a future distant period the 

 providing of those cases to receive the specimens, which the 



