64 



for its welfare whenever any opportunity lias arisen, of 

 which the acceptance of the Presidency by the late Prince 

 Consort, on the death of the Earl of Derby in 1851, was 

 one of the most signal instances. The advantages which 

 the Society has received from the numerous donations to 

 the Menagerie, and the constant kindly interest shown in 

 its general progress by H.R.H. the Prince of Wales, are so 

 continually before the observation of the Fellows, that I 

 need scarcely do more than allude to them here, beyond 

 stating that in no year of the Society^s existence has the 

 number of visitors to the Gardens or the Society's income 

 been so great as in 1876, when the large collection of 

 animals brought from India by His Royal Highness 

 formed the special object of attraction. 



Except for the collection, necessarily of limited extent, 

 exhibited in the Tower, and. a few others having their 

 origin in commei'cial enterprise, as Mr. Crosse's mena- 

 gerie at Exeter Change and the various itinerant wild- 

 beast shows, there were, before the foundation of the 

 Society's Gardens, little means m the country of gaining 

 knowledge of the sti'ange forms of exotic animal life with 

 which the world abounds. An extensive, well-arranged, 

 and well-kept collection, where the circumstances of exhi- 

 bition were more favourable than in the institutions just 

 refeiTcd to, seemed then to fulfil a national need, as the 

 rapidly acquii'cd. popularity of the Society already alluded 

 to testifies. Indeed, when we consider the amount of 

 enjoyment and instruction which has been aflForded. to the 

 24,572,405 visitors who are registered as ha^dng entered 

 our Gardens from their first opening in 1828 to the end 

 of last year, it is easy to recognize what a loss the country 

 would have sustained if they had not existed. There was 

 a period, it is true, in which they fell rather low in popular 

 favour, the record of 1847 showing both the smallest 

 number of visitors and the lowest income of any year in 

 the Society's existence. A new era of activity in the 

 management of the Society's affairs was then happily 

 inaugurated, which resulted in a prosperity which has 

 continued, ever since, with only slight fluctuations, arising 

 from causes easy to be understood — a prosperity to which 

 the scientific knowledge, zeal, and devotion to the affairs 

 of the Society of our present Secretary, ably seconded 

 in all matters of detail by the Resident Superintendent, 

 have greatly contributed. 



