Transactions of the Leeds Philosophical Society/. 271 



Transactions and Periodicals — British. 



Transactions of the Philosophical and Literary Society of Leeds, 

 consisting of papers read before the Society. Vol. I. Part I. 8vo. 

 Longman & Co. London. 1837. 



Before noticing this volume, it may be satisfactory to our readers 

 to be informed of the progress of the Society whose Transactions it 

 proposes to detail. The following sketch was forwarded to us for in- 

 sertion in our last Number, but circumstances prevented us then 

 availing ourselves of the kindness of its author. 



" In Leeds, above forty years ago, a Philosophical Society was 

 established, which consisted of only a small number of members, and of 

 whose proceedings no records remain. Amongst the number, two names 

 have come down to us, Dr Priestley and William Hey, Esq. F. R. S. 

 The society, however, did not meet with that support which its found- 

 ers had expected, and, like many similar ones, gradually fell off, and 

 became extinct. It is perhaps not too much to conjecture, that, al- 

 though we have no certain or regular minutes of their meetings, yet 

 at some of these, the splendid discoveries of Dr Priestley might have 

 had their origin, and that, in consequence of some discussion, he might 

 have been stimulated to make experiments, which, but for such dis- 

 cussion, would never have been made. When the Doctor left Leeds, 

 he was succeeded at the Mill Hill Chapel by the Rev. William Wood, 

 F. L. S., &c., whose name as a botanist and general naturalist is well 

 known. He was author of Zoographia, and for some time con- 

 ducted the natural history department in the Annual Review, as 

 well as many of the articles on botany in Rees's Cyclopaedia. Mr 

 Wood died in 1809, from which period, for many years, there does 

 not appear to have been any attempt, either individually or jointly, 

 to promote scientific pursuits, — at least, if such were the case, it is 

 now forgotten. In the autumn of 1818, however, a reaction began 

 to be manifest, and a letter appeared in the Leeds Mercury, signed 

 Leodiensis, suggesting the formation of a Philosophical Society. The 

 proposal was received with approbation by a number of intelligent 

 and public-spirited individuals, and a meeting was held at the Court- 

 House, December 11, 1818, to concert measures, with a view to the 

 accomplishment of so desirable an object. The venerable William 

 Hey, Esq., whose memory will ever be associated with the history of 

 the intellectual, religious, and local interests of Leeds, presided on the 

 occasion, when, after a protracted discussion in reference to the ob- 

 ject and scope of the projected institution, it was resolved that a so- 



