44 
PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 
coast by Mr. Hopkins. A sub-committee in the several branches of zoology having 
recently been formed, the society is now in a better position to receive and to ar¬ 
range in the museum any donations that may be forwarded, the collection being 
altogether confined to objects of the Natural History of Ireland. The members 
added to the society during the past year have more than equalled any withdrawals 
or losses the society may have sustained, and the ballot of this evening will denote 
the vigour with which the society is about to enter upon another session. A prin¬ 
cipal feature in the business of the society has been the union of the late Microsco¬ 
pical Society. Some time since arrangements for the union of the two societies were 
drawn out, which received the assent of the principal members of the Microsco¬ 
pical Society. The microscope, books, and the accounts of that society have now 
been transferred, and a sub-committee of practical men in microscopic manipulation, 
nominated. It is thus anticipated that an interesting field of research is open to the 
members of the society, especially in cryptogamic botany, in the examination of 
vegetable and animal tissues, and in minute organisms. By this union, members 
of the late Microscopical Society are placed upon the same terms, without ballot, as 
the annual members of this society. To increase further the interest of the society, 
it has been strongly advocated by many of the members that the proceedings of the 
society should assume a more popular style, and a more general admission of visitors 
be allowed. It is, therefore, submitted for your approval, that a limited number of 
evenings throughout the session be named for that purpose, apart from the usual 
scientific meetings, and that to these meetings the families of the members and their 
friends be admitted, according to the arrangements that may be proposed by the 
committee who have been appointed to consider and to report upon the practicability 
of carrying out these views. The subjects proposed are “ Zoophytes and algae,” 
“ on marine, and land and fresh-water shells,” “ on ferns, their habit and cul¬ 
ture.” 
On being moved by Dr. Gordon, seconded by Mr. G. Sanders, the above report 
was unanimously adopted ; and it was arranged that a committee should be ap¬ 
pointed to carry out the recommendation of the council with reference to holding 
meetings of a popular character during the session, apart from the ordinary meetings 
of the institution. 
Mr. R. P. Williams, treasurer, then submitted his statement, showing a balance 
of £20 18s. lOd. to be added to the reserve fund, making a gross balance of 
£60 18s. lOd. over all expenses. The society had existed for seventeen years, 
during which time it had overcome many difficulties. By the exertions of its members 
it had been kept alive in the time of the famine, and it was now beginning to return to 
a state of prosperity. They had lately taken the handsome and capacious rooms 
in which they'were then assembled, and he believed that, with a little exertion on the 
part of the fifty-five members who belonged to it, they would shortly have an income 
of about £200 a year, with which they would be enabled to extend their sphere of 
usefulness in no inconsiderable degree. Nine new members would be proposed on 
that night, which was an evidence that an effort was now making in this direction. 
The following gentlemen were elected as the council of the society for the ensuing 
year:—Sir Edward Borough, Bt., M.R.I.A.; Thomas E. Bergin, M.R.I.A.; F. 
W. Brady; Ch. Croker, M.D., M.R.I.A.; J. R. Dombrain; Chas. Farran, M.D.; 
Samuel Gordon, M.D., M.R.I.A.; W. H. Harvey, M.D., M.R.I.A.; Robert John 
Montgomery; James Edw. Stopford, LL.D. ; R. P. Williams, M.R.I.A.; Gilbert 
Sanders, M.R.I.A.; The Lord Talbot de Malahide; John Aldridge, M.D., M.R.I.A.; 
Joseph Todhunter ; Robert Barklie. Treasurer : Robert Calwell, Esq., M.R.I.A. 
Secretaries: Wm. Andrews, M.R.I.A.; J. R. Kinahan, M.B. 
A ballot was then opened, and the following were elected members of the Society :— 
Associate Members—Messrs. Ryland Byrne and Daniel Sutherland, Royal Sappers 
and Miners. 
General Members—Dr. William Stokes, 5, Merrion-square, North; Colonel 
Gough, C.B. ; Rev. Samuel Haughton, F.T.C.D.; Dr. Corbett, Professor of Ana¬ 
tomy, &c., Cork; JamesE. Millar, Esq.; Dr. Cathcart Lees. 
Dr. Smith, 63, Eccles-street, has re-joined as a member; and George Yeates, Esq., 
Grafton-street, as a member of the late Microscopical Society. 
The meeting was then adjourned. 
