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A short time previous to the Promenade, which was fixed for the 4th of March, it was suggested by some Members of Council, that a deviation from the ordinary routine of proceedings might be introduced with advantage, and that if an Exhibition of such works of Leeds Artists, living and deceased, as could be brought together at a short notice, could be formed, it might not only prove a source of gratification to the Members of the Society, but be the means of producing a more favourable estimate of local talent. The suggestion was promptly taken up, and in the short space of one week, upwards of three hundred paintings were collected and exhibited in the rooms of the Society. The evening of the Promenade was very numerously attended, and a general wish was expressed that the rooms should remain open a week or fortnight longer. The Exhibition accordingly remained open for a fortnight, and was visited by upwards of one thousand three hundred persons. Although heavy expenses were incurred in altering and refixing the gas fittings, in collecting and returning the pictures, &c., the receipts nearly covered the expenditure. There is no doubt that the Exhibition, at a trifling expense to the Society, has been instrumental in giving a due appreciation and favourable estimate of native talent; and it is hoped that this new feature in the Society's proceedings will not be lost sight of in the arrangements for the next Session.

Since the last Annual Meeting, the Theatre of the Hall has undergone a great improvement, by an alteration.

of the backs of the seats on both sides, similar to that made last Session in the centre seats; the space between the seats being enlarged, and the backs made more comfortable. This improvement has been principally effected by the private liberality of several Members of the Society.

During the past Session, an important alteration has been made in the mode of admission to the Museum, by the adoption of a uniform charge of one penny, instead of the written orders of Members, a similar course having been introduced into other Institutions with great advantage. The altered mode of admission renders the Museum more easily accessible to the public, and particularly to strangers, who hitherto have not, in many instances, known where to apply for admission. It will also be an additional source of income to the Society, and assist in defraying the heavy expenses connected with the Museum.

The Donations to the Museum during the Session, though not numerous, have been important, as additions of interest to the different departments to which they belong. In Mineralogy, the specimen which claims special notice, is a magnificent mass of Lead Ore, 2cwt. 1qr. 11lbs. in weight, from Leyburn, presented by Mr. FREDERICK KIRKBY. The principal Donations to the Geological collection consist of a valuable series of Specimens from the late GIDEON ALGERNON MANTELL, LL.D., a man whose loss to science the Geologists of this country will have just cause to deplore, since to his early and indefatigable

labours, conducted as they were at great pecuniary sacrifice, and amidst the claims of an arduous profession, we owe the discovery, identification, and description of some of our most interesting Fossil Saurian Reptiles: as the Iguanodon, Hylæosaurus, &c., and the formation of the most important collection in Europe of those extinct Reptiles, which now occupy so conspicuous a place in the British Museum. During a short visit to Leeds last Spring, Dr. MANTELL most liberally offered to present to the Museum, on his return to London, some fragments of those Saurians of a past age, from the elucidation of whose remains he had gained so well merited a celebrity: this promise he fulfilled only a short period before his lamented death.

A still further accession of Hippopotamic remains has been received since the last Report, from which additional evidence of a most interesting nature is obtained, viz., that the animals to whom they belonged were both mature and young, and that, probably, not less than three individuals were originally submerged in this locality. The circumstance of the animals having been of different ages, when taken in connection with those described by Dr. BUCKLAND from the Kirkdale Cave, (amongst which were two Molar Teeth of a young Hippopotamus which had just cut the gum, and had not the fangs completed when the animal perished,) afford presumptive evidence of the aboriginal nature of the animals in question, which would not have been so conclusive if only a fragment or

two of a single individual had been discovered, as these might have been drifted from a neighbouring county or distant region, which is not so probable when both old and young individuals are found associated in different parts of the same county, and under different circumstances.

During the excavations carried on for the Sewerage, several Bones of the Horse, Short-Horned Ox, and Deer, have been received. The most important Specimen, however, which has been exhumed, consists of a fine Horn of the Red Deer, about three feet in length, found under the gravel in Wilson Street, twenty feet below the surface, and in a very high state of preservation.

In the Miscellaneous department a large accession has been received from Mr. EDWARD HOLT, consisting of a valuable collection of Bows and Spears, War Clubs, Ornaments of Dress, &c., from the South Sea Islands. Although the Museum was previously in possession of numerous articles of this description, collected by the late GEORGE BENNETT, Esq., in Tahiti, and our townsman, Mr. CULLINGWORTH, in New Zealand, yet these being almost all either from different localities, or differing as regards their construction, are consequently of great interest to the Ethnologist in tracing the gradual advance of aboriginal nations from a barbarous to a comparative civilized state of life, and their ingenuity in the construction and independent adoption of similar articles for the accomplishment of similar purposes. Also, from Mr. BLACKETT,

several Native Productions from South Africa.

The Library has received a more than ordinary number of additions during the past year, which the Council have great satisfaction in recording, inasmuch as it is very desirable that this department should keep pace with the other branches of the Institution. The SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION AT WASHINGTON, U. S., has contributed not only many of their own Publications, but also several others of great interest, printed by the American Government, and transmitted to the Society at their request. By this liberal policy the above Institution is fully carrying out the intentions of its enlightened and munificent Founder— "The Diffusion of General and Scientific Knowledge." From the SOCIETY OF ARTS have also been received numerous Publications of importance, either presented by the Society or transmitted at their suggestion, amongst which are several valuable Parliamentary Reports, &c. To the ROYAL SOCIETY OF EDINBURGH the Society is much indebted for the Transactions of that Body from 1841 to 1852; and the Makerstoun Magnetical and Meteorological Observations, conducted under the auspices of their President, Sir T. Mac Dougal Brisbane, Bart. From the ROYAL COMMISSIONERS for the Great Exhibition have been received the Reports of the Juries; and from Lord LONDESBOROUGH the Catalogue of Lady Londesborough's Collection of Ancient and Medieval Rings, &c. The Reports also of various Local and Metropolitan Societies have been received.

In concluding their Report, the Council beg to con

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