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CHAPTER XII. 
PROCEEDINGS 1849 — 1858. 
During 1849 t wo meetings were held at Wakefield and Doncaster, 
and papers were read which were more nnmerons on the Polytechnic 
than on the Geological side ; Mr. W. Sykes Ward gave further results 
of his work on the Galvanometer, and Mr. Henry Denny contributed 
a paper on the fossil flora of the carboniferous epoch, with especial 
reference to the Yorkshire Coal-field. At the next meeting held at 
Halifax, in June, 1850, two papers on electrical subjects were read. 
The annual meeting in 1850 was held at Barnsley, Earl Fitzwilliam 
in the chair, the statement of receipts and expenditure show^ed a 
balance in the treasurer's hands of £9 14s. 7d. Mr. WilHam West 
read a paper on explosions in coal mines, and Mr. W. L. Simpson, of 
Doncaster, read a communication on the nature, value, and application 
of fuel. Mr. H. Clifton Sorby, F.G.S., contributed a paper on the 
contorted stratification of the drift on the coast of Yorkshire, the 
contortions in the drifts in the neighbourhood of Bridlington w^ere 
considered to be due to the stranding of icebergs when the bay 
extended a greater distance inland than it does at present, and it is 
further argued, that as the contortions occur at all levels throughout 
the drifts, the action of icebergs is indicated as extending during the 
whole of the drift period, and not, as has been supposed by some highly 
distinguished geologists, merely at its close. At the same meeting 
Mr. Sorby also read a paper on the existence of four crystalline 
species of carbon, viz., diamond, graphite, hard coke, and charcoal, 
in which he described experiments which he had made to show their 
various crystalline forms and mutual relationship. 
Dr. Sorby made a communication on the excavation of valleys 
in the range of flat-topped, tabular hills, extending from Scarborough 
