PROCEEDINGS 
OF THE 
GEOLOGICAL & POLYTECHNIC SOCIETY 
AT THE THIRTEENTH QUARTERLY MEETING, HELD AT HALIFAX, 
ON THE 3rd march, 1841. 
The Rev. Samuel Sharp, having been called to the 
Chair, said, — 
Ladies and Gentlemen, — I regret exceedingly that the 
Council have not been able to find a better President than 
myself, because I do think that a man who stands in the 
responsible situation in which you have now done me the 
honour to place me, ought to know something of the subject 
on which he is to speak. It does so happen that I know 
scarcely any thing of Geology. All I know is, that it is a 
most entertaining subject, and one well deserving the atten- 
tion of every person who has leisure to devote to it ; but it is 
a subject which must require considerable time, and that time 
I have not had it in my power to devote. No person, I 
think, can take the least notice of the surface of the earth, 
without observing that at some period, and by some means 
or other, great and extraordinary changes have taken place. 
The object of the study of Geology, if I know what it is, 
appears to me to be to ascertain, as well as the limited 
faculties of the human mind will admit, when these changes 
took place, and what was the great and prevailing cause that 
effected them. There has been a prejudice against this study 
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