PEOCEEDINGS 
OF THE 
GEOLOGICAL & POLYTECHNIC SOCIETY 
<3f ti^e Wim^itiinq of Yotfesi^tre, 
AT THE TWELFTH QUARTERLY MEETING, HELD AT DONCASTER, 
ON THE 2nd DECEMBER, 1840. 
•» 
Sir W. B. Cooke, Bart, having moved that E. B. 
Beaumont, Esq. do take the chair, and the motion having 
heen seconded by W. B. Wrightson, Esq., M.P., 
The Chairman addressed the Meeting as follows : — 
Ladies and Gentlemen, — When I was first requested to 
take the chair at this meeting, I hesitated to comply, inas- 
much as in a district so large as that of Doncaster, and 
where there are so many men of highly intellectual and 
highly influential qualities, who are so much better acquaint- 
ed with the subject than I can presume to be, I felt that I 
was the last man in the room on whom this duty should have 
devolved ; but when it was expressed to me that I might do 
a service to the Society by taking the chair, I felt I had no 
alternative, and that the choice was no longer left to myself. 
I am here, therefore, to do my duty, and I trust to your 
indulgence in endeavouring to discharge it. I hope the 
interests of the society wiU not suffer on account of my hum- 
ble abilities, and my limited acquaintance with the subject 
that is to be brought under discussion. This is the twelfth 
meeting which the Society has held, and as its objects are so 
