ANNUAL REPORT. IX 



the Society, but which may be of great value to the Museums of other 

 Institutions. Up to the present time, the Council have only presented 

 a collection of igneous and volcanic rocks to the Museum of Practical 

 Geology, and a set of minerals and of rock-specimens to the Museum 

 of the Queen's College at Cork : according to the last vote of the 

 Council, the remainder of the duplicates of Rocks and Minerals are 

 now being divided into sets convenient for presentation, which the 

 Committee recommend to be presented to other Institutions in which 

 they may contribute to the spread of the science. 



The Committee have not yet made sufficient progress in the ar- 

 rangement of the Foreign Fossils, to propose to the Council any 

 immediate distribution of duplicates of them ; but they hope that the 

 work which they have begun will be pushed forward by the Council, 

 and that all the duplicates both of British and Foreign Fossils may 

 be removed from the collections and from the crypts, and may be dis- 

 tributed where they may conduce to the progress of Geology. 



The Committee cannot conclude without impressing on the Coun- 

 cil the necessity of authorizing the Curator of the Museum to reject 

 all valueless specimens as they enter the Society's apartments, either 

 under the control of one of the Secretaries or of a Committee ap- 

 pointed for the purpose. This would be a very slight labour if it 

 were done week by week, and had it been done formerly would have 

 saved half the work of the present Committee. To avoid such labour 

 being again required, it is recommended that as soon as new specimens 

 have been exhibited in the Meeting-room they should be examined, 

 the worthless portion thrown away, the duplicates separated and 

 packed up, and the rest sent at once to the place they are intended 

 to occupy in the collections. 



hihrary. 



During the past year many unbound volumes have been bound. 

 As the shelves in the Library were overfull, space has been made by 

 remo^dng a number of books to the shelves in the Council-room, se- 

 lecting for removal such periodicals as form long series and are seldom 

 referred to. 



In accordance with the wish which has been expressed by many of 

 the Members, a copy of the Catalogue has been arranged alphabeti- 

 cally with reference to the shelves occupied by the books, which 

 proves a great assistance to those who make use of the Library. 



The Committee have every reason to be satisfied with the condi- 

 tion of the Library ; but they hope that the Council will be able to 

 devote a moderate sum to the purchase of new books, and to com- 

 pleting a few works which are now imperfect. 



Signed, Daniel Sharpe. 



Searles Wood. 

 24th January, 1850. S. P. Pratt ^er D. Sharpe. 



John Morris. 



