20 



obligations for his prompt attention in forwarding the 

 different specimens from that place, as well as for his 

 personal attention at onr exhibitions. 



We certainly have reason to rejoice at the success 

 which has attended our effort thus far. It has been 

 more than our most sanguine expectations could have 

 realized. In the course of a few brief months, we 

 have reached the large and respectable number of over 

 four hundred and fifty members. It will be seen from 

 the report of the Treasurer, that notwithstanding our 

 expenses have been necessarily much larger than they 

 will be during the approaching year, that all claims on 

 the Society have been met with the utmost prompti- 

 tude ; aZid may we not, in the mirror of the past, see 

 the precursor of a much brighter future. After years 

 of the most unexampled prosperity and success, dark 

 shadows have cast their gloom over our commercial 

 horizon, and dilapidated fortunes and blighted expec- 

 tations follow in the train of consequences. These 

 are events that during such times are inevitable, but 

 they are not matters of utter despondency. It never 

 was intended that man should become a mathematical 

 machine, and all his enjoyments arise from a heavy 

 balance sheet. More elevated objects and pursuits 

 have been provided for him by his benificent Creator, 

 and they are the architect of his own hand and muni- 

 ficence. We have thrown open the portals into which 

 all may enter, and learn wisdom from Nature's great 

 design. It is a bank that is coequal in date with the 



