nine o’clock
` The sun rose this morning at the usual hour . I did not observe anything particular in the aspect of the glorious planet , except that he appeared to me -LRB- it might have been a delusion of my heightened fancy -RRB- to shine with more than common brilliancy , and to shed a refulgent lustre upon the town , such as I had never observed before . This is the more extraordinary , as the sky was perfectly cloudless , and the atmosphere peculiarly fine . At half-past nine o'clock the general committee assembled , with the last year 's president in the chair . The report of the council was read ; and one passage , which stated that the council had corresponded with no less than three thousand five hundred and seventy-one persons , -LRB- all of whom paid their own postage , -RRB- on no fewer than seven thousand two hundred and forty-three topics , was received with a degree of enthusiasm which no efforts could suppress . The various committees and sections having been appointed , and the more formal business transacted , the great proceedings of the meeting commenced at eleven o'clock precisely . I had the happiness of occupying a most eligible position at that time , in ` SECTION A. -- ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY .