REPORT 01'' THE COMMlTXEi;. 37 



President of the Association for the current year. Professor 

 Flower paid several visits to the Museum, both before and during 

 the meeting, and expressed his warm satisfaction both with the 

 collections and the details of the Museum building. Commenda- 

 tion coming from so liigh a quarter cannot fail to be gratifying 

 to the members of the Society. 



It is also a pleasure to the Committee to be able to note that 

 in his inaugural address Professor Flower alluded to the scien- 

 tific services of " Alder, Embleton, Hutton, Atthey, Norman, 

 the two Hancocks, the two Bradys, and other names honoured 

 in the annals of Biology," names, too, which are indissolubly 

 linked with the records of this Society. 



Two conversaziones were given, one by the Mayor and Cor- 

 poration, the other by the Local Committee, to the members of 

 the British Association during their visit to Newcastle, both of 

 which were held in the Museum building, which was lighted 

 for these occasions with the electric light in a manner which 

 displayed the collections in a most satisfactory way. As both 

 of these conversaziones were a great success, and as more than 

 2,000 guests were entertained on each occasion, the capabilities 

 of the Museum for the accommodation of a large body of people 

 was thoroughly tested. 



The Committee are glad to report that through the liberality 

 of the Local Committee of the British Association, who were at 

 the expense of laying the wires, and of J. "W. Swan, Esq., who 

 very kindly presented the lamps, the entrance hall, the commit- 

 tee and ladies' rooms, the library, and two staircases are now 

 permanently fitted with the electric light ; and they hope soon 

 to be able to arrange for a permanent supply of electricity, 

 when these rooms will be available for evening meetings of the 

 Society. 



The Committee feel that the usefulness of the Society would 

 be much increased if arrangements could be made for courses of 

 lectures on Natural History at the Museum during the winter 

 months. Arrangements of this nature would necessarily entail 

 an increased expenditure, which the Committee do not feel 

 justified in incurring in their present financial condition. 



