78 
PROCEEDINGS 1839—1840. 
Mr. Deuiiy seemed to speak in doubt when he stated it at £150. 
I shall be happy to hear the result of your visit to Bradford 
particularly in the matter of papers. With Mr. Thorp, and Mr. 
Hartop on iron (if he will undertake it) we might do for the morning, 
but we have nothing for an evening meeting. 
It is a matter too, that requires some consideration, whether we 
should in any case agi'ee to an evening meeting of our own at Brad- 
ford. If we do, we seem to establish a fixed custom, which it may be 
difficult to abandon, and yet not easy to maintain. I should prefer 
the evening to be devoted to a meeting of the Philosophical Society, 
when we might attend as audience, and they play the fiddle ; and I 
think this would suit the president of the Literary and Philosophical 
Society of Bradford. You can sound him on the subject. 
I am, my dear Sir, yours sincerely, 
Thomas Wilson. 
The Bradford meeting was held on March 11th, 1840, and the 
Vicar of Bradford, the Rev. Dr. Scoresby, presided, and gave an 
address, which he concluded in the following terms : — " In a mental 
point of view, geology, in. common with other sciences, tends to 
improve the powers of the mind, to elevate our tastes, and to with- 
draw us from pursuits of less dignified or less useful character, as 
well as to promote the good of society generally, and in its ultimate 
practical results, the national prosperity, I cannot, therefore, do 
otherwise than wish this Society all the success which its most 
sanguine friends can desire." A paper by the Rev. Mr. Thorp on 
the section across the coal-field led to some discussion, and papers 
were read on the effect of aqueous vapour in the atmosphere as 
applied to Blast Furnaces in the manufacture of Pig Iron, by Henry 
Leah, of Byerley Hall, and on the proportion of Sulphur in Coal by 
W. West, F.R.S. 
Mr. Leah's paper was read to confute arguments advanced by 
Mr. Dawson, the president of the Society of Iron Masters of the 
counties of York and Derby, who had laid down the hypothesis that 
" the atmosphere in its different circumstances, acquires a different 
affinity for the oxygen or hydrogen part of the water, and converts it 
into air as circumstances require." Mr. Dawson considered his 
