THE COUNCIL. 
11 
heavy pressure which baffles the most rigid care and economy, 
and paralyzes the best efforts of the officers of the Institution. 
They do not, however, refer this matter to the judgment of 
the Meeting with any feeling of despondency. The Society’s 
finances are in no confusion, its income is regular and in¬ 
creasing, and not inadequate to the moderate scale of its 
establishment, but it is oppressed by the interest of a debt 
upon the Building. A determined effort at the present junc¬ 
ture may enable the Council to proceed at once with the 
completion of the central Museum, and thus relieve the Insti¬ 
tution from the most pressing of the actual difficulties. Its 
immediate usefulness will be thus augmented, and its perma¬ 
nent prosperity secured; and it will still continue to be as 
it has hitherto been, no inconsiderable distinction to have con¬ 
tributed to the erection of this beautiful edifice, and the forma¬ 
tion of these agreeable and instructive gardens, and to have 
provided an adequate fund for the effectual prosecution of 
researches into the Natural History and Antiquities of York¬ 
shire. 
