Xll 



Address of Mr J. W. Clark, President, 



12. The Reading-room shall be open every day from 8 o'clock in the 



morning to 10 at night. 



13. Strangers may be introduced by a member, but no person resident 

 in Cambridge can be introduced to the room. 



14. Non-resident Fellows of the Society when visiting Cambridge 



shall be entitled to the use of the Reading-room. 



15. A Steward 1 shall be appointed at the Annual Meeting of the 



Society and considered as a member of the Council. 



16. The office of the Steward shall be : to procure and take care of the 



books, to see that the papers are filed, and the room properly 

 prepared for the reception of the members : to collect the bills and 

 to sign them before they are paid by the Treasurer. 



It should be remembered that in those days Combination 

 Rooms were ill-supplied with newspapers, and the few that 

 were taken in were generally in the hands of the Senior 

 Fellows. Moreover, in some colleges at least, the juniors were not 

 allowed to use the Combination Room at all, except on Feast Days. 

 The opportunity therefore, of having access at all times to a well- 

 stocked reading-room was eagerly embraced, and formed, with 

 many persons, one of the principal inducements to join the Philo- 

 sophical Society. 



At the beginning of 1832 it became known that the Society 

 would be deprived of the occupation of their house at Midsummer, 

 1833 ; nor could another, equally suitable, be either hired or pur- 

 chased. Under these circumstances it was decided (7 April, 1832), 

 mainly through the influence of Mr Peacock, to apply to St John's 

 College for the lease of a site at the corner of All Saints' Passage, 

 on which the Society might erect "a house of their own, built 

 expressly to suit the objects of the institution." As a preliminary 

 to what the Minutes rightly call " this considerable undertaking," 

 it was decided to obtain a Charter of Incorporation. The Fellows 

 of the Society were evidently warmly in favour of these proposals. 

 A sum of three hundred pounds was subscribed in less than a 

 month to defray the cost of the Charter ; and at a special general 

 meeting held 5 May, 1832, the Council was directed (1) to pre- 

 pare a petition for a charter ; (2) to apply to St John's College for 

 a building-lease ; (3) "to apply to Mr Humfrey 2 for working-plans, 

 and complete estimates for the New House for the Society, the 



1 The Bev. W, Whewell was Steward of the Beading-room from 1822 to 1826, 

 when he was succeeded by the Bev. Joh. Lodge, University Librarian. He held 

 the office till 1832, when it was discontinued, and a third Secretary was appointed, 

 with the understanding that he should have charge of the Beading-room. 



2 A local builder, who obtained the confidence of the University at this period. 

 He erected the buildings for Human Anatomy. Architectural History, Willis and 

 Clark, Vol. in. p. 156. 



