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Survey are doubtless familiar to all our members ; and from 
their exact, mathematical delineation, they will have become 
the subjects of more frequent reference, and more confiding 
trust, than kindred productions which preceded them. There 
is, however, notwithstanding the quaint, and perhaps I 
might say eccentric, construction of Mr. Thorpe's Section or 
Diagram, a vast fund of information to be derived from it ; 
and considering the time of its production, and the then- 
proved knowledge and experience of our local Geology, it 
reflects a credit on our late townsman's genius and acquire- 
ments which time will rather strengthen than destroy ; and 
as one of the founders and early supporters of this Society, 
the name of Thorpe will always serve as a binding link, 
between the Society and the locality of Barnsley, which has 
furnished so much material for its past investigation and 
record. 
I must not dwell upon other familiar names of those who 
have been taken from us. That of Mr. Thomas Wilson, 
however, recurs with a melancholy force which we cannot 
resist, and carries us back to those good old days, which might 
perhaps be held to form a useful model for our imitation 
now. I refer, especially, to the arrangement which had all 
but formed the programme of our present assembly, when a 
social meal divided our introductory labours from an even- 
ing's discussion. This never failed in bygone days, to add 
greatly to our collective enjoyment, and stimulated the indi- 
vidual zeal we each felt, in all that pertained to the usefulness 
and progress of the Society's labours in the mining and com- 
mercial districts of Yorkshire. 
The Chairman next spoke on the mineral aspect of the 
Coal-field of the West Riding. In the course of his 
remarks he said : — The experience of the last few years has 
added to our previous knowledge, and I think, established the 
striking change in character, which exists in the general 
