COUNCIL FOR 1880 . 
11 
April, 1831. He appears to have taken the idea from the fact 
that societies consisting of meetings of men of science annually 
took place in Grermany. It was, however, to the high powers 
of administration, and to the learning and energy of the late 
Rev. William Yernon Harcourt, the son of the then Archbishop 
of York, a great benefactor to this city, and the founder of this 
Museum, that the Association owes its formation. On the 27th 
of September, 1831, Mr. Harcourt, in an address of the utmost 
ability, gave his exposition of the objects and plan of the 
Association. This address will well repay a perusal by all 
interested in the historv of the Association. 
•/ 
Mr. Harcourt, in this address, drew attention to the fact that 
in Lord Bacon’s new Atlantis was to be found the first 
idea bearing upon similar associations. Bacon, in his interest¬ 
ing romance, has drawn a picture of a society organized with 
a view to the purposes of scientific co-operation. At the close 
of the meeting, Mr. Murchison, afterwards known as the great 
geologist, made the following remarks in this hall, which may 
be recalled with pleasm^e :— 
“ He explained the motives which first induced the original 
promoters of the meeting to select the City of York for their 
first assembly.” He then went on to say, “To this city, as the 
cradle of the Association, they should ever look back with 
gratitude, and whether they met hereafter on the banks of the 
Isis, the Cam, or the Forth, to this spot, to this beautiful 
building, they would still fondly revert, and hail with delight 
the period at which in their gyration they should return to this 
point of their fii’st attraction.” 
The additions to the Gteological Department have been 
numerous and important. 
Besides the large collection of fossils formed by the late 
Mr. E. Wood, of Richmond, various other specimens that were 
needed in the collection have been added through the liberality 
of Mr. Reed, the honorary curator. 
We are indebted to our late esteemed honorary treasurer, 
Mr. William Gbay, for a number of interesting fossils from 
various geological horizons; also to Mr. Fielden Thorpe, of 
