SOCIETIES. 
fl<ents> to the lectures, library, ami other 
rooms of the establishment. 'I heir meet- 
ings must be' held in the bouse, nor can any 
business be transacted by them unless three 
members at least are present. Those meet- 
ings are monthly; and .special meetings 
may be called on the requisition of the pre- 
sident, or two vice-presidents, or any three 
managers ; the president, a vice-president, 
or a manager, may preside on each of these 
occasions ; and the president, or chairman, 
is allowed a double vote when an equal di- 
vision takes place on a question. 
The visitors cannot act unless tliree are 
assembled ; and they meet in March, June, 
September, and December; but other spe- 
cial meetings of them may be convened ; 
they are to elect from their own body a 
secretary, who is to make minutes of their 
proceedings , but his office is entirely ho- 
norary. 
The number of proprietors is limited at 
present to 1000: after the charter was ob- 
tained, the sum to be demanded of such is 
100 guineas ; and the method observed in 
supplying the vacancies hitherto, has been 
by vesting that power in the temporary 
committee of managers, who deliheiately 
add to the list persons whose merit and 
abilities are likely to prove advantageous 
to the institution ; their qualilication, how- 
ever, is but seventy-five guineas. A candi- 
date for this honour must be proposed by a 
manager at the monthly meeting of that 
body ; the name is suspended in the room 
for one month,wben a ballot takes place, and 
a majority of two thirds is required in favour 
of tlie admission ; after he has thus become 
a proprietor, he is entitled to his certificate, 
the printed catalogue, other papers of the 
institution, and tickets of admission, free of 
any further expense. 
The property of the institution is exclu- 
sively vested in the proprietors, who, in 
their collective state, are enabled to dispose 
of it; consequently no sale, mortgage, or 
any kind or manner of involving its interests, 
can possibly occur, unle.ss by consent of the 
•whole. In return for this, tliey, and the 
subscribers and honorary members, have 
the common right of admission to the lec- 
tures, library, and reading rooms, -Ac. &c. 
every day, and at all hours, from edgbt 
o’clock in the morning till eleven at night, 
with the usnal exceptions of Sundays, holi- 
days, and Saturdays, when the doors are 
closed at three o’clock in the afternoon ; the 
proprietors have, besides, one transferrable 
ticket each, which admits to the places al- 
ready enumerated. A proprietor, who may 
be desirous of transferring his right in the 
institution, must inform the committee of 
managers of the name and residence of the 
intended purchaser in writing, who is bal- 
lotted for at their next meeting, unless the 
transfer should he to the possessor’s son, 
who is admitted without that ceremony : if 
the person should he rejected, another may 
be proposed: and. if he also should be dis- 
approved of, the proprietor wishing to sell 
may claim from the funds of the institution 
such sum as may then be fixed in the bye- 
laws as the qualification of a proprietor. 
Upon the decease of a proprietor, his execu- 
tors may proceed, with some little varia- 
tion, in the same manner prescribed for the 
sale of a proprietorship. 
Persons of rank and superior qualifica- 
tions, both natives and foreigners, may be 
elected honorary members ; but two nega- 
tives will exclude them upon the ballot. 
The rights of life and annual subscribers 
necessarily extend no further than to the 
use of the rooms and library, nor can they 
be admitted such without the ceremony of 
proposing and electing. Subscribers to the 
library, or to particular courses of lectures, 
are admitted upon terms fixed by the ma- 
nagers, who also admit ladies in the same 
way, but to the lectures only. ^ 
A meeting of the proprietors was held in 
October, 1805, when it was resolved, that 
the sum of 40,0001. should as speedily as 
possible be invested in the funds, in order 
that a permanent basis might be founded to 
secure the success of the institution ; other 
sums were at the same time directed to be 
placed in floating public securities, to be 
disposed of when the produce should be 
wanted. The rents, revenues, and annual 
iqcome, to be applied for rent, taxes, sala- 
ries, repairs, &c. &c. and in purchasing fo- 
reign and domestic journals, periodical and 
other new works, for the use of the reading 
room : the surplus beyond these purposes 
was directed by the meeting to be used for 
augmenting the library and the philosophi- 
cal apparatus. 
We shall conclude our account of tliis ex- 
cellent institution in the words of the rules 
for the use of the library. “ No person 
shall take down any of the books in the 
library ; hut a note or card, containing the 
name of the person applying, and the title 
of the book, must be given to the librarian, 
. or attendant, who shall supply him with the 
hook required. No person shall take away 
any book, belonging to the library.” A 
I 
