REMARKS. 



Gentlemen, 



The occurrence of another annual meeting brings with it 

 the associated duty of reviewing the history of our institution 

 for the past year, and of making a general and brief survey 

 of its condition and prospects. I perform this duty with 

 unusual pleasure at this time, because I am able to state, that 

 during the year, the Society has suffered no interruption of 

 harmony among its members, and has not to regret any dimi- 

 nution of its accustomed activity in the cultivation of scien- 

 tific knowledge. I may indeed say more than this, and may 

 with propriety congratulate you that this anniversary finds 

 the Society in a position more than ever indicative of future 

 prosperity ; and that events have occurred tending to show 

 the honorable place which it holds in the estimation of the 

 public. I may encourage the hope, and even the expecta- 

 tion, that it is destined to maintain an elevated rank among 

 the scientific institutions of the country, and that its capacity 

 for usefulness in our own community, one of the principal 

 objects of its establishment, will ere long be much increased 

 by the possession of enlarged means and appliances. 



For details regarding the condition of the Library and 

 Museum, I refer to the reports of the gentlemen respectively 

 charged with the care of them, which I shall presently read. 

 From these you will learn the extent and value, and also the 



