THE LAST DECADE. 
427 
the materials from which they had been formed ; the clothing which 
covered the people, w^hether manufactured out of woollen stuff or of 
leather, the art of the primeval potter, the implements emploj^ed in 
agricultural and mining purposes, the design, material, and fabrica- 
tion of personal ornaments, and other kindred matters were legiti- 
mate branches of scientific study which no Polytechnic Society could 
fairly exclude, for in tracing out the development of industry no hard 
and fast line could be drawn beyond which research would be un- 
necessary and uninstructive, The explorations of antiquarians have 
been instrumental not only in bringing to light numerous articles of 
various kinds which for honest purity of materials, elegance of form 
and design, and excellence of workmanship cannot be excelled at the 
present day, but which on being repro-.luced by our manufacturers 
had found a ready sale because the pubhc eye has been captivated 
and public taste educated. 
A meeting was held at Harrogate in April, 1884, at w^hich Mr. 
Richard Carter, one of the oldest members of the Society, occupied 
the chair, and gave an address. The population of Harrogate had 
doubled since 1861, and then stood at about 11,000, and on the 1st 
of February of that year had received its charter of incorporation 
as a borough. Mr. Carter gave an historical resume of the rise and 
increased importance of the toAvn, due to its mineral waters, and 
was of opinion that the anticlinal on which the town rested formed 
the output for an inexhaustible storehouse of mineral w^aters existing 
in the strata extending westwards. A paper was read by Mr. C. 
Fox-Strangways, of H.M. Geological Survey, on the mineral waters 
of Harrogate considered under geological aspects. The beds at 
Harrogate are a portion of the Yoredale series, lying below the mill- 
stone grit, and above the scar limestone, and the anticlinal upon 
w4iich Harrogate stands is a continuation of that at Skipton and 
Bolton Abbey. The axis of disturbance is well shown in the town 
of Low Harrogate by the quarries which have been opened for road- 
stone on either side of the bogs, where the impure limestone of the 
Yoredale series may be seen dipping respectively N.W. and S.E., at 
high angles on either side of this little valley. After describing the 
constituents of the several wells he summarises by stating the Harro- 
