236 



ing is attributable to the highly interesting discoveries pro- 

 mulged, yet the greater portion is unquestionably due to the 

 effect of sympathy, rendered contagious and unavoidable by 

 the number of the audience. 



A regular attendance at the meetings of the Society, is an- 

 other of the duties incumbent upon each of its members, which 

 has been perhaps too much neglected. It is this only which 

 will render them interesting and profitable. Few, if any, will 

 take the trouble to prepare communications to be read at meet- 

 ings at which it is probable there may not be a quorum pre- 

 sent ; and instead of the want of matters of interest being a 

 sufficient excuse for your non-attendance, that want is, in my 

 opinion, mainly caused by the non-attendance. What induce- 

 ments do you hold out to those who are willing to give their 

 labor to the collection and diffusion of useful and entertaining 

 knowledge, when even the regular stated meetings of the In- 

 stitute, amounting to only eight or nine in the course of the 

 year, are not honored with a full assemblage ? It is in vain, 

 and worse than useless, to expect that much or almost any 

 good is to be accomplished by you as a society, unless you 

 yourselves feel an interest in it, and exhibit the proof of it. 



In the eloquent address which was delivered before you a 

 year ago, the subject of regular courses of lectures to be given 

 under your immediate direction, was urged upon you as an 

 important means of contributing your quota towards the efforts 

 that were then and are still making, to give a higher charac- 

 ter to the instruction of your fellow-citizens. I mention the 

 suggestion now, merely for the purpose of adverting to the suc- 

 cess which has attended the practical application of such a sys- 

 tem in the Young Men's Association of this city ; and to lend 

 my aid by agitating the question again to certain action upon 

 the subject. Even should the immediate success be not so 

 great as might be anticipated, the simple fact of making the 

 existence of our Society more generally known to our fellow- 

 citizens, of bringing them together, and shewing them what 

 has been done towards collecting a museum of natural histo- 

 ry, could not fail of doing great and permanent good. 



If, however, you desire not merely to discharge an assumed 



