16 
REPORT OF THE COUNCIL FOR 1850. 
Monastery in times anterior to the erection of the beautiful 
Church, the ruins of which are now the chief ornament of our 
gardens. 
The Admissions at the Gates have yielded the sum of 
£212 7s. lOd. during 1850, exceeding the receipts of the pre¬ 
vious year by £22 16s. 8d., being a greater sum than has ever 
been derived from the same source in any previous year; and 
it is of importance to know that the ordinary income of the 
Society, during 1850, has more than equalled its expenditure of 
every kind, ordinary as well as extraordinary, by the sum of 
£54 10s. 5d., notwithstanding that, owing to unexpected 
circumstances already noticed, one source of revenue has been 
less productive than usual. 
Such is the history the Council are enabled to lay before 
this meeting, not without hope of its affording many grounds 
of congratulation. 
To the increased attractions of the gardens, to the acquisition 
of many valued additions to the collections, and to the number 
of admissions at the Gate during the year 1850, (evincing as the 
Council trust a gradually increasing appreciation of the peculiar 
objects to which this and similar Institutions are devoted,) the 
Council point with pleasure; while in the improved financial 
position of the Society, a prospect is opened of extending its 
efforts towards the promotion of antiquarian pursuits, and of 
adding to the facilities of acquiring information already afforded 
to the student and lover of Natural History, by the varied 
objects of interest and admiration displayed in the Museum. 
