6 
furnish brief statistics respecting the finances of the 
Club. <A selection of a few -papers of special local 
interest has been made. These are presented mostly in 
condensed form, and will undoubtedly prove an accept- 
able supplement to the bare statistics of the pages 
which precede them. With respect to the future, it is 
the purpose of the Committee to publish annually in 
January, a volume of transactions, which shall con- 
tain reports of the papers read and discussions held, 
accounts of Excursions, reports of sectional work, and 
other particulars relating to the Club’s proceedings. 
Members will thereby be put in possession of an 
interesting record of the year’s work in permanent 
and systematic form, which will prove advantageous 
for purposes of reference, and in other ways. And 
so, while ministering as heretofore to the intelligent 
pleasures of the members, the Club will carry on a 
work of more definite usefulness, not only to the 
members, but to the public. 
The establishment of the Club dates from Decem- 
ber 18785. It is remarkable that Burnley, with a 
population, which in that year was about 40,000, should 
not previously have possessed an Association with 
objects similar to those of the one now in existence, 
and adapted, by being established on a wide basis, to 
embrace all interested in the study of literature and 
science, and to prove worthy of the town. The want 
of such an institution had however been long felt; 
and, to quote the words of the circular which was 
issued as the first step towards the formation of the 
Club, there existed ‘‘in the minds of many the con- 
viction that an attempt to promote interchange of 
thought on subjects of general imterest would be 
attended with success.” The circular alluded to was 
dated December 12th, 1875, and signed by W. M. 
Coultate, F.R.C.S., J.P., J.C. Brumwell, M.D., and 
W. A. Waddington. Its object was to request attend- 
ance at a meeting to be held in the Mechanics’ 
