422 TlMEHRI. 
mitted, for instance let every other lecture be scientific 
and every other literary, or on general topics : unless 
some such plan is adopted, I am afraid the scientific men 
of the colony will find the burden laid upon them too 
heavy to bear. 
Another gain will be the extension of the reading room 
southward. When that improvement is completed, of 
which there is an immediate prospect, there will be 
more room for the library which has long been needed ; 
and it is to be hoped that a room for monthly meetings 
of the Society and a ladies' room will not be for- 
gotten. I do not know, however, that these improve- 
ments appear on the plan, and our Treasurer will not, I 
know, permit extravagant inroads to be made on the 
funds of the Society. The Society owes a large debt of 
gratitude to the Treasurer and Secretary for the services 
they have spontaneously rendered out of. pure good will, 
furnishing the plans and supervising the contractor and 
his work, whereby expense has been saved ; and we all 
feel assured that only good workmanship and material 
have been put into the building. 
Another item on the credit side has been the introduc- 
tion of gold to the notice of the Society, through ' Gold 
Mining Notes' compiled for Timehriby the Vice-President 
from the Reports of the State Mineralogist of California, 
and through a valuable collection of auriferous quartz 
and other ores from California received in exchange for 
specimens of colonial woods — which ores are to be seen 
in cases in the Museum. If one may dip into the future 
not far distant, one may readily imagine that the appear- 
ance of these foreign minerals on the scene is but a 
foreshadowing of other cases and cabinets filled with 
