272 Transactions of the Leeds Philosophical Society. 



ciety should be founded on the most comprehensive principles, and 

 should include all branches of science and literature, excluding all 

 topics connected with politics, religion, and ethics. For a short time 

 the meetings were held in the Court- House, after which a subscription 

 was opened for the erection of a suitable building, which, in a few 

 months, amounted to a sum so considerable as to justify the purchase 

 of land, and the commencement of other active operations. The first 

 stone was laid by Benjamin Gott, Esq. the 9th of July 1819, at the 

 south-east corner of the present handsome edifice, and underneath it 

 were deposited several coins of the reign of George III. The pro- 

 gress of the building was slower than had been anticipated, in conse- 

 quence of unavoidable circumstances. It was soon discovered that 

 the sum originally specified as adequate to its completion was insuffi- 

 cient for that purpose, and the work was consequently at a stand. The 

 munificent spirit of Benjamin Gott and John Marshall, Esqs., which 

 reflects equal honour upon those respected individuals and the town to 

 which they belong, interposed with a noble alacrity to extricate the ris- 

 ing institution from the alarming dilemma in which it appeared to be 

 placed. These gentlemen generously took each five additional L. 1 00 

 shares, and by that seasonable effort of liberality, relieved the society 

 from the difficulties which threatened it. The first meeting of the first 

 session was held on April 6, 1821, on which occasion the late C. T. 

 Thackrah delivered an introductory essay. This has since been printed 

 for the society. The building is of stone, with two fronts, and sur- 

 rounded with pallisadoes, and consists of a lecture-room, laboratory, li- 

 brary-room, waiting-room, entrance hall, and resident curator's apart- 

 ments on the first floor, above which are three apartments, one devoted 

 to geology and mineralogy, in which are arranged about 4000 specimens 

 of minerals and fossils, — the former arranged according to their chemi- 

 cal affinities after Phillips, — the latter according to the stratification 

 after Smith. The nucleus of these collections were principally the gifts 

 of one of its late curators, E. S. George, F. L. S. — The minerals were 

 a few years since considerably augmented by an extensive purchase 

 of the sale of Sir Alexander Crichton's minerals, by which very fine 

 specimens were added of malachite, chromate of lead, Vauquelinite, 

 Lapis lazuli, emerald, tourmaline, garnets, &c. One of the gems of 

 the collection is an aerolite or meteoric stone weighing 1 lb. 7oz. which 

 fell at Aigle, in the department of Orne, France. The geological de- 

 partment, although containing some very fine and unique specimens, is 

 very far from what it should be, considering the vast facilities offered 

 by the coal-pits and stone quarries so numerous in the immediate vi- 

 cinity, abounding as they do with organic remains. With such advan- 

 ce 



