17 
THE COUNCIL. 
the Society has been the instrument of tracing and preserving 
the most venerable of the antiquities which record the an¬ 
cient greatness of this city, a memorial of the mighty power to 
which we owe the first civilization of our country, and of the 
era when York was the strong hold of the Roman power in 
Britain, and when the court of the sovereigns of the world 
was contained within these walls, 
A subscription was opened to meet the expense of the ex¬ 
cavation and enclosure of the remains so unexpectedly brought 
to light, and the Council contributed to it £50. on the 
Society's account. This sum is therefore added to the stand¬ 
ing debt, which has been further augmented by the expendi¬ 
ture required in completing, as far as prudence would permit, 
the furniture of the Museum on the principle laid down in the 
last Report. 
It was there stated that there existed “ an immediate and 
pressing want of further means for arranging the specimens 
and books, and that the Council could not advise the supply¬ 
ing this want by a system of shifts and expedients, which in the 
end entail more expense with less either of ornament or use/' 
When it had been determined that a general scientific Meeting 
should be held in York, it became the more necessary to exe¬ 
cute at once the contemplated arrangements. The furnishing 
of the theatre and two of the Museums, has in consequence 
been completed ; such cases as were required for the collections 
in the other rooms have been added, the Library has been 
fitted up, and the Laboratory rendered available. These 
expenses, with that of the enclosure of the Roman wall, have 
occasioned an increase in the Society's debt of about d?3Q(b 
and it may now, therefore, be stated as amounting to i? 170 Q, 
The sum, however, which will bear interest will be less than 
this by several hundred pounds, on the supposition that the 
Members will take care that their annual subscriptions shall 
e 
