JAMES "WILLIAM DAVIS. 
323 
officials, whipped up the attendance at the meetings, sought out 
contributors and contributions, revised proofs, travelled the length 
and breadth of the county to find suitable objects for photographs, 
superintended the preparation of the plates, talked and wrote about 
the work to and for " all sorts and conditions of men," and, as it has 
been well expressed, " changed the state of affairs when some twenty 
years ago it was on the verge of dissolution, and by dint of 
enthusiasm and perseverance raised it to a prosperous and useful 
condition, and nearly quadrupled the number of its members." 
Another admirable record of his energy is the " History of the 
Yorkshire Geological Society, 1837-1887," the jubilee volume, a 
work of nearly 500 closely printed pages, the sole work of his own 
hands, where, modestly writing little about his own efforts and 
sacrifices, he sketches the labours of the founders and the work of 
his contemporaries with generous recognition, and preserves to us in 
the character sketches much valuable information which must other- 
wise have inevitably perished. 
At a general meeting of the members of the Society, held at 
Barnsley on April 27th, 1876, Mr. Jas. W. Davis was elected 
honorary secretary in place of Mr. L. C. Miall, who resigned. At the 
annual meeting following this election, held in October, 1876, the 
Secretary reported that the number of members had been increased 
to 115, and a debt for printing of more than £20, which had 
accumumulated up to the year 1870, had been paid off, and that a 
summary of the geological literature relating to the West Riding of 
Yorkshire had been prepared. In this year the Secretary organised 
a successful and interesting excursion to the Victoria Cave, near 
Settle, under the leadership of Mr. R. H. Tiddeman M.A., F.G.S., 
who conducted the party to the cave, and explained its history and 
the important results obtained by its investigation, after which the 
large collection of prehistoric remains from the cave, which are 
deposited in the Giggleswick Museum, was visited. In 1877 
Mr. Davis, in addition to his secretarial duties, read a paper on the 
unconformability of the Permian Limestone to the red rocks west of 
its escarpment in central Yorkshire, and every succeeding annual 
volume of our Proceedings has been enriched by one or more papers 
