A YORKSHIRE NATURALIST 6i> 



then undisputed head of the medical profession in 

 the town. Thus, the council was composed of 

 two parties the one of progress, the other of 

 " laisser faire" One battle had been fought over 

 the letter of invitation sent to me, another on the 

 question of my salary. It was originally proposed 

 that this should be the same as was given to the 

 taxidermist ; but Dr. Bardsley shrewdly saw that my 

 supremacy as curator could not be maintained along 

 with identity of salary. Hence he proposed and 

 carried a notion that mine should be raised to ^"no 

 per annum 10 in excess of Harrop's much to the 

 disgust of the friends of the latter on the council. 



Thus thrown into a Society composed of two 

 hostile camps, and being the elected administrative 

 instrument of only one of them, my position 

 was very uncomfortable. Moreover, my difficulties 

 for some time increased rather than diminished. 

 Almost immediately after my appointment Dr. 

 William Henry, the then distinguished chemist,, 

 proposed to the Literary and Philosophical Society 

 of Manchester that I should be invited to attend its 

 meetings, as if I were a regular member, making at 

 the same time some flattering remarks, very en- 

 couraging to the poor, half-bewildered youth. At 

 that time the geology of the districts immediately 

 around Manchester was very imperfectly understood. 

 A succession of layers of limestone cropped out in 

 the bed of the river Medlock on the north-east side 

 of the town. In the elevated ground overhanging 



