COUNCIL FOR 1859 . 
9 
appeared to be rapidly hastening to decay,—so rapidly, in 
fact, that, independently of its being the duty of the Society to 
watch with the most jealous care over the preservation of these 
interesting monuments of the past, considerable fears were 
entertained, that unless something was done to stop the pro¬ 
gress of dilapidation, the ruins might ere long become dangerous 
to the visitors to the Gardens. Under these circumstances the 
Council requested Mr. G. Fowler Jones to inspect the ruins, 
and report upon their condition. That gentleman found that 
in many places the mortar had been completely washed out 
from between the stones, and that the grass and wall plants 
growing in the joints, however advantageous to the picturesque 
effect of the ruins, were very injurious to their stability. The 
roof of the Hospitium and the end wall of the upper room of 
that building, were also stated to be in an unsafe condition, 
and Mr. Jones recommended that the necessary repairs should 
be executed without loss of time. The work was accordingly 
performed under the superintendence of Mr. Jones, and it is 
hoped that these interesting objects are now in a condition to 
resist the elements for many years to come. The total expense 
of these repairs was £41. 16s. 6d. 
The attention of the Council having been called to the bad 
state of the Carriage way and of the Terrace in front of the 
Museum, especially during wet weather, it was resolved in the 
course of last summer to put them in a proper state of repair. 
It was at first thought that a layer of asphalte applied over 
the existing broken surface would have sufficed, but when this 
was tried on the terrace, it was found that the inequalities of 
the hard surface of the old asphalte were reproduced on the 
new surface. It was therefore resolved that the carriage way 
should be entirely broken up and relaid, and this has been 
satisfactorily efiected at an expense of £18. 
In accordance with the engagement mentioned in the last 
year’s report, Mr. Dew, of the British Museum, visited York 
in the month of May, and devoted three weeks principally to 
the development of the specimen of Plesiosaurus Zetlandicus, 
by clearing away the fragments of the matrix from the fossil, 
wherever this was practicable. This was a task requiring the 
