THE COUNCIL. 
9 
Before they proceed to financial statements, the Council 
think it right to inform the Meeting, that whatever expenses 
have been incurred by the scientific and antiquarian Com¬ 
mittees, in the prosecution of the duties devolved upon them, 
they have been defrayed by themselves without any charge to 
the Society ; and further that it is by means of a subscription 
among the Members, which however is not yet complete, that 
the cost of the Observatory is to be provided for; and that 
such additions to the Library and the Garden as come not 
within the lists of donations presented at the monthly Meet¬ 
ings, have been made. Such instances of unabating zeal and 
warm attachment, on the part of the Members, is a gratifying 
proof of the real strength of the Society; yet it cannot fail to 
excite a feeling of deep regret that the interest upon the 
building debt, though partially diminished by the £ 50 . loans, 
should exhaust nearly all the surplus of the annual income, 
and thus render the Society so much dependent upon the 
liberality of individual Members, for the accomphshment of 
objects which ought to be provided for from the common 
stock. 
It has not been found practicable by the most rigid economy 
that unexpected circumstances admitted, and the general 
interest and character of the Institution would justify, to save 
from the income of the past year more than £ 3 . During that 
period seventeen new Members have been elected, and their 
admission fees have been applied to the diminution of the 
debt. On a scrutiny of expenses incurred during the year, by 
repairs of the building, the completion of the garden, prepara¬ 
tion of specimens, and consumption of gas, it appears possible 
that the annual expenditure may be decreased by about £ 25 . 
and the Society may still go on, trusting for the extinction or 
at least the diminution of the debt, to the fluctuating admission 
of new Members, and deferring to a future distant period the 
providing of those cases to receive the specimens, which the 
