205 
them, had devoted their lives. He felt very great satisfaction 
that they had chosen Ripon for the place of their meeting, 
and there was but one drawback to that satisfaction, which 
was the small number that he saw assembled in the room. 
He could not help thinking that the free access which they 
afforded to this meeting could not have been generally known, 
or that the interesting nature of the papers to be submitted 
to their consideration could not have been sulficiently 
circulated in the neighbourhood, otherwise he felt sure 
they would have had a larger attendance — for surely it was 
a great advantage that a society like this should from 
time to time visit the various towns and districts in the 
great Riding with which it was connected ; and that by 
the papers which were read upon those occasions, and the in- 
formation which was thus brought before the notice of those 
who attended the meeting, there should be spread throughout 
all the different districts of the country a taste for the pur- 
suit of those sciences which it was the object of this society to 
encourage. When he looked at the list of the various papers 
which were to be read, he saw that it covered a wide and very 
attractive field, and that those who might be present from that 
neighbourhood would find from these papers, he had no doubt, 
that within a very few hours' journey from this town they 
would be enabled to carry the glance of their investigation 
over the vast ages which were embraced in Geological time ; 
for he found that among the papers there was one which would 
recall to them the circumstances, and to some extent, doubt- 
less, the history of the Silurian period, with its vast popula- 
tion of Molluscs, and would explain how it was that 
Boulders belonging to that period had found their way into 
the beautiful valley of Wharfedale. He found, also, that 
coming down from that very ancient time they would have 
recalled to them, to some extent, the history of the Carbon- 
iferous Era, in which, in God's providence, there was stored 
