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lias been wainscoted, and the passages beautified ; the rooms 
and staircases have been carpeted throughout, and linoleum 
laid in the lobbies ; a new store-room has been put in the 
roof; electric bells have been laid throughout the premises; 
a complete electric and gas lantern, with additional lenses 
for microscopic objects, a cylinder for oxygen gas, a new 
safe, kitchen-range, tea-urns, and other conveniences, have 
been presented to the Society by our generous friend at a 
cost of £1,500. The small room over the new library has, 
at the request of the Natural History Section, been set apart 
for housing the natural history and microscopical books and 
apparatus, and your Council has the gratification of reporting 
that the entire cost of the new bookcases and the furnishing 
of this room was met by the handsome contribution of 
£169 12s. lid. voted by the Natural History Section to the 
Centenary Fund. The special thanks of the Council are 
due to Sir Henry Roscoe and Mr. H. H. Pochin for additional 
donations, duly acknowledged in the separate balance sheet 
of this fund, but the members of the Society are placed 
under increased obligation by the munificent liberality of 
Mr. Henry Wilde, whose total donations to the Society 
amount to £2,000. The balance remaining at the credit of 
this account is £64 18s. 5d., which will be almost entirely 
absorbed by accounts not yet paid for new furniture, &c., 
and by a small balance due to the builders upon the com- 
pletion of their contracts. 
No sooner had these renovafions been completed, and the 
whole building fully furnished, than a fire broke out in the 
adjoining warehouse, which placed the Society’s property in 
considerable jeopardy. The heat of the fire destroyed the 
glass in the domes and roof of the new building ; it melted 
the leaden gutters of the roof, cracked the slates, and 
consumed a portion of the rafters ; but the greatest damage 
was occasioned by water on the carpets, ceilings, and walls. 
Fortunately the property was covered by insurances in the 
