334 



Owing to the change of the office of Secretary, the printed 

 transactions of the Society, as well as the monies due to it, 

 had become considerably in arrears; but the Council are 

 happy to state that copies of the Reports hitherto deficient, 

 (as far as the Doncaster Meeting, October, 1845,) are now 

 ready for the Members ; the debts of the Society are all paid 

 olF ; and sufficient money is collected to permit the affairs of 

 the Society to be conducted with ease and satisfaction. 



It is most satisfactory to the Council to state that the 

 objects for which the Society was instituted continue to 

 excite the greatest interest in all the towns to which the 

 visits of the Society are made ; that the Meetings have, with 

 only one or two exceptions, been numerously attended ; and 

 that an increased number of most valuable communications 

 have been recently made, which will be found in the pub- 

 lished reports alluded to. 



In consequence of these Reports, it is unnecessary to give 

 more than a bare enumeration of the Papers that have been 

 read, which are as follow : — 



" On the Spontaneous Decomposition of Fat," by Wm. Lucas, 

 Esq. 



" A Description of Fossil Trees found in Erect Positions in the 

 Carboniferous Strata," by E. W. Binney, Esq. 



" On the Construction of an improved Anemometer," by Ben- 

 jamin Biram, Esq. 



*' On a Fossil Nautilus, found near Halifax," by Dr. Inglis. 



" On the Principal Faults in the Yorkshire Coal Field," by the 

 Rev. W. Thorp. 



" On the Advantages of Mechanical Force over the Power of 

 Rarefaction in Ventilating Mines and Buildings," by Mr 

 Fourness, of Leeds. 



When it is considered that the amount of human life sacri- 

 ficed annually by explosions in coal mines is very enormous, 

 and the expense of Mr. Fourness's machine is comparatively 



