280 REPORT OF THE COUNCIL 



NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY 



OF 



NORTHUMBERLAND, DURHAM AND NEWCASTLE- 

 UPON-TYNE. 



REPORT OF THE COUNCIL 



FOR 1912-1913. 



Though there has been no such augmentation of support for 

 the Natural History Society as is needed for a fuller develop- 

 ment of its work, it is at least a satisfaction to the Council 

 this year to have no falling-off to record. The membership 

 shows a slight gain : the number lost by death (13) and 

 resignation (15) is rather more than counterbalanced by the 

 accession of 33 new members, and the membership now 

 stands at 410. 



The turnstile figures, showing the year's attendance of 

 visitors to the Museum, are less satisfactory. The actual 

 total, 19,566, includes the school classes which now visit the 

 Museum regularly ; excluding the figures for these classes the 

 year's total would be only 15,382, which would represent a 

 considerable decrease as compared with the records of four or 

 five years ago. The Education Committee of Newcastle have 

 renewed the arrangement made last year, by which classes 

 from their elementary schools visit the Museum on Thursday 

 afternoons in term time. It is much to be regretted, however, 

 that they have abandoned the definite course of lessons which 

 was planned by the Curator and followed during most of last 

 year. The difficulty appears to have been to find sufficient 

 time in the curriculum for repeated visits by the same class. 



No extraordinary expenditure has been incurred during the 

 past year, but as will be seen from the balance sheet, a deficit 

 has again arisen on the year's working, due to the cost of 

 publication of the Society's Transactions. It would be a 



