272 
PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 
members; 5. That the officers shall be elected on the second Wednesday in No¬ 
vember, and consist of a president, two vice-presidents, a treasurer, corresponding 
secretary, secretary, librarian, and six honorary curators, viz., two zoological, one 
for Vertebrata and one for Invertebrata , a conchological, botanical, geological, and 
a curator of Antiquities; 6. That the curators shall, in addition to attending to 
their respective departments, form a committee, which shall superintend the dis¬ 
tribution of duplicate specimens; and that such distribution shall take place 
half-yearly; 7. That the subscribers shall have power to give tickets of admis¬ 
sion to the museum; 8. That the meetings of the Society shall be held every 
Wednesday fortnight. The chair to be taken at 7, p.m., and vacated at 9. 
Mr. W. Wilson, the well-known botanist, is president, and our indefatigable 
correspondent, Mr. Hylands, holds the double office of corresponding secretary 
and curator for Invertebrata. 
The Institution, it will be perceived, adopts the principles of universal suffrage, 
annual parliaments, vote by ballot, and—we may almost say—no property quali¬ 
fication, in its government. So far good. But there are two or three points to 
which we would beg particular attention. In the first place, the annual sub¬ 
scription is so exceedingly small, that no lover of Nature need be prevented from 
joining the Society on account of the ruinous extent of the periodical fee. We 
therefore hope to find persons of all classes, from the wealthy squire to the indus¬ 
trious artizan. meeting here under one common standard, and with one common 
aim—the improvement of each and every grade of society. The fourth rule, 
likewise, is judicious, since it ensures the Institution against all idle honorary 
members. We seriously recommend those of our readers who do not enjoy the 
blessings consequent on a residence in Warrington to become “eligible’’ as 
honorary members without delay, by contributing towards the museum or library, 
or both. And in order to prove that we are willing to volunteer something more 
substantial and less plentiful than the commodity yclept “ advice,” we may state 
that we intend to qualify forthwith : to make sure of the valuable donation being 
bond fide delivered, we shall, moreover, doubtless add a conditional codicil to our 
will, whereby an honorary membership may be procured for some ambitious 
relative. But, in sober seriousness, we do hope to see specimens and books pour¬ 
ing in freely upon the Society, lest its curators and librarian, accustomed to con¬ 
sider their several posts as so many sinecures, rebel and resign when they actually 
find some business on their hands. 
In the next place, we cannot but commend the plan of electing really zealous 
honorary curators, and likewise one for each department of Natural History. 
This is a very important point, and cannot fail to produce the best results. 
Where a “ professional ” naturalist is employed, with a comfortable salary, he is 
too apt to prove the lamentable fact that he is but human; he only performs just 
