118 The Twenty-first General Meeting. 
commissioned him to say that he would have joined them with great 
pleasure, but for his absence in a distant part of Ireland. Lord 
Lansdowne’s grandfather had inaugurated this Society in that Hall, 
as their Patron, twenty-one years ago, and the Committee had hoped 
that his grandson, would have been present on this occasion to open 
the Museum, as he most certainly would have done, but for his 
absence from England. Mr. Smith then proceeded to read the 
REPORT FOR 1874. 
“The Committee of the Wiltshire Archeological andj Natural 
History Society cannot meet the Members of the Society on this 
important occasion of its history (of this day attaining its majority, 
and at the same time inaugurating its new Museum and Library), 
without very heartily congratulating themselves and the Society at 
large on the highly satisfactory state in which it now finds itself. 
“« As twenty-one years have elapsed since the Society was augu- 
rated in this room, and as this seems a marked epoch in its history, 
perhaps it may be permitted to review very briefly the course it has 
pursued, and what it has effected, before we touch upon its present 
position. 
“The Committee thinks it worthy of especial congratulation that 
the interest of the people of Wiltshire, in the ancient remains 
and history of their county, as well as in its natural history 
has been so much developed and increased during the period 
of the existence of the Society. Without entering into minute 
particulars the Society may now justly boast of the perform- 
ance of what was at the outset merely anticipation and promise. 
Civil, ecclesiastical, and natural history, has been promoted ; ancient 
buildings have been carefully examined and described; the grand 
Celtic remains, and the many British earthworks, in which- 
our county so pre-eminently abounds, have been cared for ; and in 
more than one instance their preservation from destruction has been 
secured by the efforts of members of this Society ; the genealogy of 
several county families which was heretofore obscure, has been 
elucidated; manners, customs, and personal biography have been 
investigated and put upon record; documents once neglected have 

