234 Report of The Natural History Society. 



mens, of which there is a large number in your collection, and 

 corresponding and ordinary members be advised that donations 

 will be acceptable and publicly acknowledged. Among the addi- 

 tions now being made to the Museum, your Council deem the 

 Aquarian and Microscopic departments deserving of special notice. 



By the Treasurer's Report, it appears that the cost of the new 

 building has been $10,55375 ; and that the debt still due upon 

 it is about $3,600, of which $2,400 is secured by mortgage, and 

 the balance, $1,200, including some accounts not yet settled, exists 

 as a floating debt. 



The assistance and countenance afforded to similar institutions 

 by European Governments, led your Council to believe that, in a 

 new country like this, the natural resources of which require to 

 be developed, and the tone and character of its society formed) 

 the Legislature, to whom an application was made, would cheer- 

 fully have aided the efforts of your society in effecting these desirable 

 ends. But such has not been the case, and, therefore, your Coun- 

 cil, impressed with the belief that the pursuits of the natural sciences 

 and literature are not yet fully appreciated here, take this occasion 

 of directing public attention to the pleasure, instruction and recrea- 

 tion to be derived from them. 



Whoever has experienced the harass and fatigue of spirit 

 arising from close application of the mental powers for any length- 

 ened time to one absorbing and anxious object, must have felt the 

 craving of the mind for some new occupation which, by a health- 

 ful change, might relieve the fatigue and weariness of the over- 

 wrought and over-exerted mental organs*. This relief is not 

 always to be obtained by absolute rest. The mere cessation of 

 exertion does not satisfy to fell the void created by long and 

 tiring labor on an exclusive subject. Again, when from illne-s, 

 misfortune, or any other cause, the laborious man of busi- 

 ness, or the diligent student, is incapacitated for his accustomed 

 pursuits, how depressing is the langour which attends him in his 

 retirement, unless he has some intellectual resources on which to 

 exercise his otherwise inert and useless powers ! Accustomed to 

 other exertions in his ordinary avocations, if he be deprived of 

 these, and no substitute presents itself to take their place, the 

 mind will become wearied and depressed from the very absence of 

 healthy exercise and employment. And if still farther, through 

 success in his avocation, the approach of age finds him retiring 

 from his wonted stirring occupation, and hoping, after a life spent 



