PROCEEDINGS 



or THU 



GEOLOGICAL & POLYTECHNIC SOCIETY 



AT THE TWENTY-FOURTH QUARTERLY MEETING, HELD AT 

 HUDDERSFIELD, ON WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 6tH, 1843. 



The Rev. W. Scoresby, D.D,, F.R.S., in the Chair. 



The Rev. Dr. Scoresby, on taking the Chair, com- 

 menced the proceedings of the meeting by remarking upon 

 the great advantages of the Polytechnic Department of the 

 Society, by affording the means of communication between 

 practical men. Many discoveries of the highest order had 

 arisen from the observation of minute circumstances, and he 

 urged the younger members in particular not to refrain from 

 commumicating any new observations, from the idea that they 

 were of trifling importance. The investigation regarding 

 the determination of the quality of iron and steel by 

 magnetism, which he had brought before the Society 

 some months since, had been continued, and the course 

 of experiments was now completed. The expectation 

 which he had formed of the utility of this test had 

 been fully realized ; in wrought iron he was able to 

 discriminate the quality very accurately, and he had been 

 equally successful with steel ; but greater difficulty attended 

 his observations on cast-iron, though a considerable degree of 

 accuracy had been attained. A manufacturer of tools, at 

 Sheffield, had had a quantity of foreign iron put into his 

 hands, which appeared to him well fitted for steel, though 

 much lower in price than that which he usually used; he 



