7 
PROCEEDINGS 
OF THE 
GEOLOGICAL AND POLYTECHNIC SOCIETY 
©f tije OTest Etotitfl of gorfosfjtre, 
AT THE FIFTY-SECOND MEETING, HELD IN THE 
GUILDHALL, DONCASTER, ON FRIDAY, JULY 1ST, 1859, 
AT TWELVE O'CLOCK AT NOON. 
James Brown, Esq., M.P., in the Chair. 
The following gentlemen were elected Members of the 
Society: — Rear Admiral Sir James Clark Ross, F.R.S., 
"W. B. Wrightson, Esq., M.P., of Cusworth, J. W. Childers, 
Esq., of Cantley, James Brown, Esq., M.P., of Rossington, 
and E. Sewell, Esq., of Fulneck. 
The Chairman having read letters of apology from the 
President, the Earl of Eipon; and also from the Earl of 
Dartmouth, and Earl Fitzwilliam, for not being able to 
preside at the meeting, called upon the Rev. W. Thorp, 
Yicar of Misson, to read the first Paper : — 
ON THE GEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE OF THE SECULAR EXPANSION 
OF THE CRUST OF THE EARTH, THE INCREASE OF ITS 
ORBIT, AND THE EFFECTS PRODUCED THEREBY, AS 
PROPOUNDED BY CAPTAIN DRAYSON, R.A. BY THE 
REV. W. THORP, VICAR OF MISSON, NOTTS. 
Geology is closely allied with nearly all the sister sciences : 
with botany, enabling her to decipher the fossil flora ; with 
