22 HISTORICAL SKETCH OP THE 



whicli should be devoted to paying the rent bills incurred by the Society. He wished 

 that we might feel independent, and thought with such provision against indebtedness 

 there would need be no doubt of success. He then pledged himself ready to furnish 

 $500 for this object. Mr. Charles Amory likewise pledged himself to raise $400. Noth- 

 ing further seems to have been done towards the creation of such fund. 



Pending the arrangement of the cabinet in the new hall, and the necessary prepar- 

 ation for its use, meetings were not held in June or July of this year. 



The first meeting in the new hall was held on Aug. 7. The cabinet of the Society, 

 increased by the collection purchased of Dr. J. V. C. Smith, had been fully arranged 

 during the summer months. The magnificent collection of shells belonging to Dr. Amos 

 Binney, Jr., and of minerals belonging to Dr. Chas. T. Jackson had also been deposited 

 with the cabinet of the Society, and put on exhibition. 



Surrounded by such evidences of prosperity, the members might well feel gratified at 

 what had been accomplished in the past, and reasonably hopeful for the future. They 

 were rejoiced too, by the accession of a large number of specimens to the several 

 departments of the Museum, that had long awaited a fitting place for their reception. 



Before adjourning, it was voted that hereafter meetings be held twice, instead of once a 

 month, as heretofore. Accordingly on the 21st of August the second meeting for the 

 month was held, and a large number of members were present. At this meeting an 

 address was delivered before the Society by the Rev. F. W. P. Greenwood, commem- 

 orative of the opening of their new hall. This very admirable address was published in 

 full in the first volume of the Journal of the Society. As the first paragraph undoubt- 

 edly expresses fully the feeling pervading the minds of all the members, it is quoted here. 



" With good cause, gentlemen, may we congratulate each other at this meeting, on our 

 condition and prospects as a Society. This spacious and dehghtfully situated apartment ; 

 these neat and well contrived cases and tables, already exhibiting treasures, the lustre of 

 which is more pleasant to the eyes of science than the shining of silver and gold ; this 

 convenient furniture ; these ample accommodations — are all indubitable evidences of our 

 improved, established, and promising state. Everything wears a congratulatory aspect. 

 Our countenances are full of animation. Even the mute representatives from the several 

 kingdoms of Nature, which here in new order surround us, seem to participate in our 

 pleasure, and, rejoicing in their deliverance from the damp and obscure region in which 

 they have been hidden, to bid us welcome to upper air, and the comforts of our present 

 abode." Another quotation from the address of Dr. Greenwood will find an appropriate 

 place in this history, before its conclusion. 



It may be well to note, as showing the comprehensive ideas relative to the work of the 

 Society, that a committee at this meeting was appointed at Dr. J. V. C. Smith's desire, to 

 consult with him upon the expediency of forming a zoological garden. Nothing of 

 course could come from this under the circumstances of the period, and the consum- 

 mation of such a wish seems now but a remote possibility of the future. 



Action was taken at a meeting of the council in October of this year, which 

 shows that as yet the public were not admitted to view the Society's treasures, as a record 



