THE COUNCIL. 11 



heavy pressure which baffles the most rigid care and economy, 

 and paralyzes the best efforts of the officers of the Institution. 



They do not, however, refer this matter to the judgment of 

 the Meeting with any feeling of despondency. The Society's 

 finances are in no confusion, its income is regular and in- 

 creasing, and not inadequate to the moderate scale of its 

 establishment, but it is oppressed by the interest of a debt 

 upon the Building. A determined effort at the present junc- 

 ture may enable the Council to proceed at once with the 

 completion of the central Museum, and thus relieve the Insti- 

 tution from the most pressing of the actual difficulties. Its 

 immediate usefulness will be thus augmented, and its perma- 

 nent prosperity secured ; and it will still continue to be as 

 it has hitherto been, no inconsiderable distinction to have con- 

 tributed to the erection of this beautiful edifice, and the forma- 

 tion of these agreeable and instructive gardens, and to have 

 provided an adequate fund for the effectual prosecution of 

 researches into the Natural History and Antiquities of York- 

 shire. 



