COUNCIL FOR 1846 . 
17 
the Society and the foundation of the Museum elicited throughout 
the county of York. The Council see with pleasure a gradual 
increase in the total number of Members, hut a much larger 
accession of strength will be required, to enable the Society to 
extend in any material degree its usefulness to science. 
The Council trust that the Annual Meeting will he satisfied 
with the statements that have been made as to the general con¬ 
dition of the Society, the vigorous growth of its collections, and 
the great public interest felt in its Museum and Gardens. They 
cannot however report so favourably of the share taken by the 
Members at large in the scientific proceedings of the Society. 
The Monthly Meetings for scientific communications, which 
formerly were well attended, have for some years past fallen 
into comparative neglect: the scanty attendance of Members 
discourages the preparation of communications, and thus one 
main object of the Institution is permitted to languish. Shall 
we change the hour and modify the arrangements of these 
meetings, with the hope of augmenting the attendance of 
Members ? Shall we circulate through our Society some printed 
Reports of our Proceedings, for the purpose of reviving the interest 
once felt in our progress, not only in the immediate neighbour¬ 
hood of York, but even to the extremities of the County ? It 
must be left to those who shall be entrusted with the adminis¬ 
tration of your affairs in the ensuing year to answer these ques¬ 
tions : the retiring Council have, however, left on record the 
elements of a plan which may perhaps be realized under other 
auspices, for the occasional publication of such communications 
presented at the Meetings as relate to the Natural History 
and Antiquities of Yorkshire, and may deserve to be generally 
known. 
With such objects in view^, and with such a plan of expansive 
usefulness in operation, in addition to the instruction and grati¬ 
fication already provided for the Members and the Public by its 
well-stored Museum, its beautiful and instructive Garden, and 
the attention bestowed on the preservation of the venerable relics 
of Antiquity entrusted to its care, the Society may be justified 
B 
