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ROYAL GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF CORNWALL. 



Sixth x\nnual Report of the Council. 



The state of comparative maturity to which the Society has 

 now arrived, affords less interesting matter for remark than du- 

 rintr its early progress: The Council, therefore, in discharging 

 this their aimual duty to the members, have Httle left them to do, 

 but to call their attention to the respectable rank which the In- 

 stitution has attained, and to in-ge the necessity of their continued 

 patronage to ensure its stability. 



Independentlv of the intrhisic advantages of an institution of 

 this kind in gradually adding, by the labours of its members, to 

 the knowledge of the physical structure of Cornwall, it possesses 

 a secondarv value by attracting to tliis part of the county indivi- 

 duals eminent for their genius and scientific acquirements, whose 

 presence cannot fail to be useful to anyplace which they visit. 



Owing to expenses incidental to the completion of a new Mu- 

 seum, the funds of the Society have not, as was expected, as yet 

 justified the addition, by ])urchase, of any new minerals to the 

 Cabinet : neither have the donations been so numerous and splen- 

 did as last year. The Society has, however, been favoured with 

 not a few specimens, as well from members as others. 



The communications on Geology and the branches of science 

 connected with it, have been numerous and valuable, and the 

 quantity of information contained in several of these respecting 

 the structure of the county and its mineral repositories, renders 

 it the duty of the Council to lay them before the public as soon 

 as materials for a second volume are accumulated, — a period pro- 

 bably at no great distance. 



The Council regret that the backwardness of many of the mem- 

 bers who have it most in their power to forward some of the most 

 interesting objects of the institution, justifies, and indeed renders 

 necessary, the repetition of the following appeal to their liberality 

 and zeal : 



" The Council cannot avoid expressing their regret that so few 

 new specimens have been obtained from the county mines; and 

 that, consequently, the department of the Cabinet set apart for 

 the reception of indigenous ores, which ought to be particularly 

 rich and splendid, continues to be defective, and is eclipsed by 

 manv other collections, as well public as private ; — a circumstance 

 Tiniformlv exciting the surprise of strangers. 



" The Council earnestly request the attention of members to 

 the grand object of the institution, that, namely, of enlarging our 

 knowledge of the Geological structure of Cornwall. It is impos- 

 sible for a few members to undertake the investigation of the 

 whole county. — It is therefore hoped, that, with a view of en- 

 abling 



